The Time That Follows
by RyansDreamMaker
Summary: After Charlie's dad dies, she needs a friend to help her move on. Bass never intended to be that friend, and he certainly never intended for it to go so far. Charloe!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N ** My knowledge of the military expands to what you see on tv and thats pretty much it lol. So please don't be offended if I write anything horribly wrong. :-)

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**April 28, 2030**

**Chicago, Illinois**

**Charlie Matheson's apartment**

Steam covered the mirror in the bathroom as Charlie stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself. Today is her day off, and she plans to spend it relaxing.

Unfortunately though, ringing coming from the direction of her bedroom pulled her out of the small bathroom. She picked up her cell phone and sighed when she saw Jason's name flashing on the screen.

"Hello."

"Charlie? Hey," he sounded genuinely surprised that she had answered the phone, "what are you doing tonight?"

She tried to think fast and come up with an excuse to be busy, but just as she opened her mouth to tell him she had things to do, the doorbell rang.

"Hey, someone's at the door, I'll have to call you back." Without waiting for a response, she hung up the phone and grabbed her fluffy pink robe off of the bathroom door. She headed out into the hallway and to the front door of her small apartment, the floor cold against her bare feet.

Charlie looked through the peep hole in the door and the sight that met her made her heart stop and her stomach drop. She drew a shaky breath and slowly opened the door to reveal two men, standing in front of her in Marine dress blues. They saluted her and she could feel the tears already burning in her eyes.

"Charlotte Matheson?"

She couldn't breath, this couldn't be happening. He can't be dead, he's supposed to be home in two weeks.

"Yes?"

"Ma'am, were here to inform you that..."

Everything seemed to blur. She could see them talking, but none of their words seemed to reach her ears. The tears flowed freely down her face and her body shook with the effort to breath through her cries. It felt like she wasn't breathing at all.

At some point someone must have called Rachel, because her mother was suddenly on her couch, cradling her like she was still a baby. Somewhere in the back of her mind the words kept playing over, and over again.

He can't be gone. He can't be gone. He can't be gone.

_**October 3, 2012**_

_**Lakeview Elementary School**_

_**Charlie is five years old**_

_"Daddy, daddy, daddy!" A small voice, attached to a tiny body with bouncing, blonde curls comes running down the slope towards his car. Charlie jumps into his arms and he lifts her off of the ground to swing her around._

_"Oh, I missed you." He places a big kiss on her little, chubby cheek and she giggles, smiling up at him._

_"I missed you more daddy." As usual, even at five, Charlie insists on always being right. Just like her mother._

_"No, I missed you more." And he can't help but get on her nerves. The little frown on her face is to cute to pass up._

_She sighs in an exaggerated way and rolls her eyes. "Daddy, we've talked about this. I always miss you more."_

_He can't help but laugh, and he would tease her more, but he is interrupted by the car's passenger window rolling down._

_"Now that we've cleared up that everyone has missed each other, can we please go get some food? I'm starving."_

_Charlie giggles at his friend in the car. "Hi, 'Bastian."_

_It wouldn't matter if she called him a moron and whacked him with her backpack. That little girl could make him smile any day. "Hello, Charlotte. Now can we go eat please?"_

_Still giggling, Charlie climbs into her father's car. He shuts the door behind his daughter and gets back into the drivers seat._

_"I'm in the mood for tacos. What do you think Charlie?" Bass turns in his seat to look at the her and she smiles nice and big._

_"Yay, tacos!" He turns back to the front and looks at his best friend._

_"What do you think Miles?"_

_"Ok, we'll go eat your tacos." He glances at his best friend then back at his daughter. "What do you want to do this weekend Charlie?"_

_She scrunches up her tiny face in thought before shouting, "I wanna go to the zoo!"_

_Miles and Bass chuckle. They both hate the zoo, but Miles only gets to see Charlie on the weekends so if she wants to go to the zoo, then they'll suffer through it._

**Present**

Charlie pulls back from her mother's arms and sits back on the couch. Looking around the room she realizes that Uncle Ben and Danny have arrived as well, though she doesn't remember when. She vaguely notices that she is still wearing nothing but her bathrobe and excuses herself to change.

She walks through the apartment in a daze and when she reaches her bedroom, she has already forgotten why she was going there. Ignoring the fact that the rest of her family is in the living room, she crawls into her bed and curls up into a ball under her blankets.

He's gone.

Miles Matheson is dead.

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A/N I have this entire story outlined already its about eight chapters and the rest of them will all be longer than this little intro. I love the idea of little Charlie and Bass hanging out, I couldn't get this idea out of my head.


	2. Chapter 2

**May 2, 2030**

**Jasper, Indiana**

**Jasper Cemetery**

**Four days since Miles death.**

Charlie had dressed herself in black pants and a simple black shirt on autopilot. The drive from Chicago to Jasper had been uneventful, though her brother had insisted on riding with her. She had a feeling her mom and Uncle Ben were the one's behind his sudden desire to have brother-sister bonding time.

Not to sound ungrateful. She loves her brother, as well as their mother, and Uncle Ben is great, they just aren't dad. She would have been perfectly fine with driving by herself, she had actually been looking forward to the thinking time. But what she really wanted to do, was ride with Bass so she could talk to him.

She hadn't been the one to tell him about dad, Uncle Ben had called him while she was sitting catatonic on her couch. For the past four days he hadn't been answering his phone. Yesterday, when she went by his house no one was home. She had even used the hidey-key in the light fixture by the door to go inside and check. Everything had been in its usual place except for the fact that Bass was missing.

So this morning when she pulled out of her driveway, she hoped to meet at the cemetery. He was Miles' closest friend, practically family, and he was one she really wanted to see right now.

It was a beautiful day outside, the sun was shining and the spring air was crisp. It made Charlie's heart ache that her father would never get to see days like this again.

As they approached what was soon to be Miles' final resting place, she looked around for the blonde curls she knew so well. Many eyes, full of sympathy she didn't care for and pity she didn't want, follwed her through the yard and to her seat. She sat beside her mother, with Uncle Ben and Danny on her mother's other side. The vacant chair right beside her screamed for someone to be sitting in it.

She sat completely still throughout the service, she had finished crying a few days ago. Or at least she hoped so, she didn't think she had any tears left in her. She barely even registered the firing of the guns as they went off. She finally looked up when the man dressed in uniform stepped forward to hand her her father's flag.

Now the tears were back in full swing. People were patting her on the back and giving her hugs she didn't want, telling her that she would get through this when all she really wanted to do was tell them to fuck off because they didn't just loose their daddy. What she really needed was a drink. Where's Bass when you need him?

She let Danny drive home, dad would've had a fit about Danny driving her car, and she sat in the passenger seat, staring out the window. The drive passed by so quickly she hadn't realized that they were already back until Danny shook her from her thoughts.

"Hey, were here." He was looking at her carefully. "Are you alright? Do you want me to stay for a while?" He was such a good little brother but she really just wanted to be alone right now.

"No, I'm alright. I just need a shower and some sleep." She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "I'll text you later ok? I love you."

He nodded as he got out of the car. "Alright, just call me if you need me. I love you too." He gave her a good, strong hug and she found herself fighting back tears again. She turned away so he couldn't see them falling down her cheeks and headed inside.

OpOpOpOpOp

She felt much better after her shower and she dressed in comfy, old sweatpants and her dad's USMC t-shirt. She had stolen it out of his laundry basket when she was like eight years old and never gave it back. It felt good to wear it, like it was her own little memorial for him.

Now she needed that drink. She headed into the kitchen and saw all of the food and flowers people had been sending over and suddenly felt claustrophobic. Opening the refrigerator, she also realized that any beer or alcohol she had before this happened had long since been consumed.

Sighing in frustration, she grabbed her car keys off of the counter. As she twirled them in her hand she realized that her dad had booze at his house. The good kind too. She got in her car and headed over to her dad's house.

The ten minute drive felt like hours and as she pulled up in front of the house she had grown up in, the tears started falling again. Charlie wiped them away as she put her key in the front door and was surprised to find that the door wasn't locked. She had been here last week to get the mail and check on the house, but she knew she had locked the door when she left.

It was late at night, there wasn't a soul in sight, so she pushed the door open and called out into the darkness.

"Hello?" Scrambling coming from the direction of the living room made everything her father had ever taught her pop into her head. She opened the drawer of the table sitting next to the door and picked up the loaded gun her dad had kept hidden there. Her heart pumping wildly in her chest, she called out again. "Hello?"

Whoever was in the house knocked over something made of glass and as soon as it shattered Charlie clicked the safety on the gun off and flipped on the light switch. She pointed the gun at the man staggering around her father's living room and he put his hands in the air, eyes wide.

"Jesus Charlie! Don't you knock? Or do you always invite yourself into people's houses with a gun?"

Relief flooded through her and she clicked the safety back on the gun before replacing it in its drawer.

"This is my house Bass, I don't have to knock. You on the other hand might want to try it sometime."

But Bass merely grunted in response, he was pushing empty beer cans and empty bottles of tequila and whisky around trying to find something. He finally found a bottle of whiskey with some liquid left in the bottom and downed it before he turned to face her.

He could see the tear tracks on her cheeks and the disappointment in her eyes. Those sad eyes tore at his heart and he had to look away in shame because he knew he had let her down.

"You weren't there today." It wasn't an angry accusation like he had been expecting, but a sad Charlie was even worse than a pissed off Charlie.

"I know, I'm sorry, I just got caught up... and... well, you know." He gestured around at the many empty bottles of alcohol on the floor.

He was a mess. The front of his shirt had stains all over it, from tears or alcohol she wasn't sure, his usual curly hair was sticking up in every direction, and his eyes were almost swollen shut. All of which, made it difficult to be angry with him.

"It's ok... but I hope you at least left me something to drink." She looked around the room, realizing that it would have been easier to just go to the store and buy her own beer.

Bass huffed something between a laugh and a cry, "I think there's still another bottle of whisky in the... the... thingy." He gestured wildly in the direction of the kitchen and swayed on his feet. Charlie quickly moved to him and guided him to the couch.

He looked at the shirt she was wearing and suddenly burst into tears. He was cradling his head in his hands and rocking back and forth on the couch. "Miles... gone... my brother."

As bad as Charlie thought she felt, Bass looked ten times worse. "Stay here, I'll be right back." She ran into the kitchen and found the whisky, for herself because he had clearly had enough, and then opened the cabinets to try and find something for him to eat. The only things in there were canned soup and a bag of potato chips. Leave it to dad, the little doomsday-prepper.

She sat down next to him on the couch, opened the bottle of whiskey, and took a long pull straight from the bottle. The alcohol burned nicely down her throat.

Next to her, Bass was smiling. "Look at you, Miles' kid through and through." He was clearly referring to her drinking habits.

She chuckled and felt her eyes start to burn again so she took another drink. Bass reached out for the bottle but she snatched it out of his grasp.

"I think you've had enough, here eat these." She pushed the bag of chips towards him and he groaned like an overgrown child.

"Come on Charlie, didn't your father ever teach you to share?"

That made Charlie laugh out loud. "Now you know damn well that my dad taught me to keep the good stuff," she held up the bottle in front of him, "to myself."

Bass flopped back on the couch and laughed. He picked up the bag of chips and for a while they were both quiet. Her drinking, him eating. If she closed her eyes Charlie thought she might be able to pretend that nothing had changed. She, dad, and Bass were just sitting around the house, hanging out.

"Everything's different now." She sat back on the couch to look at Bass, he looked a little better than he had when she found him but he was still a mess.

"Yeah. It is."

_**May 19, 2020**_

_**Miles Matheson's house**_

_**Charlie is twelve years old.**_

_It's Tuesday night, which means he's headed over to Miles' place to drink and watch TV. Though he's not sure why they call it a Tuesday thing, they do this pretty much every night of the week._

_The door is unlocked, as usual, and he lets himself in. He heads to the refrigerator to grab a beer and then to the living room to sit in his usual chair. But there's already someone sitting there. A young girl with long, blond curls and bright blue eyes looks up at him._

_"Hey Bass."_

_He blinks for a second and then a second more before, "Miles!"_

_Miles' huge feet can be heard running down the hall and he nearly trips over an end table on his way into the room. He looks quickly between his daughter and his best friend, determining whether or not someone is hurt, before glaring at Bass._

_"What the hell dude? What's your problem?"_

_Bass points straight at the teenage girl sitting in his chair. "You've got a kid in your living room."_

_Charlie jumps up out of her seat and throws her hands up in the air. "Seriously? I'm almost thirteen, I'm not a kid anymore Bass."_

_He scoffed at her before moving around her to sit in his chair. "I know how old you are Charlie, I was there the day you were born. I just don't know what your doing here, in Miles' house. It's Tuesday." He looked between the young girl and his best friend like that should explain everything._

_The two of them exchanged glances before Miles turned to look at him. "Well, Charlie decided to move in with me so she's gonna be here a lot more."_

_The initial shock of his statement wore of quickly and Bass found himself asking, "and Rachel's alright with this?"_

_But Miles didn't get a chance to respond because Charlie did it for him. "I'm gonna be thirteen soon, so Uncle Ben told mom that she had let me choose," she shrugged her shoulders, "and I wanna live here." She looked nervously up at her dad and he wrapped and arm around her, a big smile on his face._

_"I'm glad your here." She smiled brightly up at him and he turned to glare at Bass again. "He is too, he just doesn't know it yet."_

_Charlie rolled her eyes. "Right... I'm gonna go unpack some more stuff." With that, she took off down the hallway. _

_He and Miles took their regular seats and sipped their beers for a while in silence. Finally, Miles speaks softly enough that Charlie won't hear him. "It's all gonna be different now, isn't it?"_

_Bass nods his head. "Yeah. It is."_

**Present**

Charlie leaned over and put her head on Bass' shoulder. The bottle of whiskey was already halfway gone and the alcohol was having a pleasant effect on her. She had known Bass her entire life, birthdays or Christmases, he was always there for her.

"Thanks for being here 'Bastian."

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and leaned back to make himself more comfortable. Charlie pulled her feet up onto the couch and snuggled deeper into his side, closing her eyes. She breathed deeply, taking in the familiar scent that was Bass, and fell asleep instantly.

He put his feet up on the coffee table and grabbed the blanket from the back of the couch, throwing it over them. He dropped a kiss on top of her hair and whispered, "I'm always here Charlotte."

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A/N Thank you to those of you that expressed interest in this story, I hope that you guys like this!


	3. Chapter 3

**May 3, 2030**

**Chicago, Illinois**

**Miles Matheson's house**

**Five days since Miles death.**

Bass woke up on Miles' old couch with a sore neck and a massive headache. The place where Charlie had been sleeping next to him was empty, but still warm. He got slowly to his feet, taking in the disaster around him. Beer bottles were everywhere and at some point in the night he must have knocked over the chip bag, because there were potato chips scattered across the floor.

He was never going to admit this to anyone, but the sound of the shower starting actually made him jump. He went down the hallway towards Charlie's old room and saw her clothes on the bed. Bass looked down at his shirt and realized he hadn't changed clothes in two days, not to mention the fact that he smelled like a brewery. He was pretty sure he smelled urine on himself too.

The fact that he had gone to the bathroom on himself at some point was just plain gross, and the fact that Charlie had been nice enough not to mention his disgusting smell, was downright embarrassing. Charlie's dad just died, he knew what that felt like. An yet she was here trying to take care of him.

Bass ran a hand through his hair and was disgusted yet again, finding his hair greasy in most places and stiff in others. He needed to shower and put some fresh clothes on. Just then, his stomach started rumbling and he decided he better add eating to the list as well.

Knowing that there wasn't any food in the kitchen, he put his shoes on and grabbed his car keys to head home for a quick shower. Then he needed to go to the store to grab a few things, he had an idea for something that he knew would cheer Charlie up.

OpOpOpOpOp

Charlie stayed in the shower until all of the hot water was gone. After she had dressed in simple jeans and a t-shirt she went out into the living room.

It was still a mess. When she had woken up this morning she had been overwhelmed by the trash all over the floor and the stench hanging in the air. She had sniffed her own shirt and thought that she might be the source of the smell. Embarrassed, she had headed straight for a shower with the hope that Bass had been to drunk to notice the horrid smell.

"Bass?" No answer.

"Hey, Bass." She moved around the couch, only to find the spot she had left him in empty.

Disappointment flooded through her, she had been hoping he would help her pack up some of her dad's things today. But she really just wanted to spend some time with him, he was the closest family she had left now. So with a heavy heart, Charlie went to the kitchen to grab a garbage bag and began cleaning up the mess Bass had made.

Two big bags of trash and some scented candles later, the house looked and smelled as it always had for as long as she could remember. This house now belonged to her, Dad had never remarried after his and mom's divorce, and she was his closest living relative. But unfortunately, there was no way she could afford to keep it. The house would have to be cleaned out and sold.

Charlie looked around the living room, Miles Matheson wasn't exactly the decorating type but he had collected plenty of things over the years. Copies of her high school and college diplomas hung on the walls, along with pictures of her in a cap and gown surrounded by different friends and family. Pictures of her softball team and even a report card from eighth grade that she had gotten straight A's on, hung from the walls.

On the wall right next to the TV was the ugly painting she had brought home for him in the second grade. It was an ocean scene with brightly colored fish and a one-eyed mermaid in the middle. She had handed it to him the moment she stepped through the door and he had taken it right to the wall and hung it up with a big smile on his face. Years later, they would argue about her wanting to get rid of it and his refusal to let it go.

As her eyes travelled around the room some more, she found herself noticing things she had long since forgotten. Such as the picture frame on the table right next to his favorite chair. The picture had been taken on her first day of kindergarten, Dad had come over to her mom's house ten minutes before the bus was supposed to pick her up so he could wait with her.

Rachel had stayed in the house, but Uncle Ben had come outside with them and offered to take the picture. Miles was grinning like the proud father he was, and Charlie had her little arms wrapped around his neck with her head resting on his shoulder. He had whispered in her ear, telling her how much he loved her.

Miles had clearly kept this picture close. She could imagine him sitting in his chair on Friday nights with a beer in his hand and looking at that picture. The thoguht of her father sitting there, lonely, made her heart break and she suddenly realized how stupid she had been. She should have been here more, spent more time with him when he was home. His job left no certainty of a tomorrow, and she had wasted so much time.

Charlie picked up the picture frame and sat in his chair, sinking into the familiar smell as a fresh wave of tears fell down her cheeks. She sat there for a while, clutching the picture to her chest, and rocked back and forth, wishing things could have been different.

OpOpOpOpOp

Bass felt refreshed after a quick shower and a change of clothes. He had stopped at the grocery store to grab a few things and was headed back to Miles house to see Charlie. He couldn't remember much from last night, he had been drunk out of his mind, but he knew she had taken care of him and it was time for him to return the favor.

The first thing he noticed when he opened the front door was the smell, like apples and cinnamon. When he entered the living room he was shocked to find it completely spotless, he had been planning on cleaning up the mess he had made when he got back. But what really caught his attention was the woman sitting in Miles favorite chair.

Charlie turned her head to look at him and her usual bright, beautiful eyes were swollen and red.. Fresh tear tracks covered her cheeks and he could see the picture frame clutched in her hands. He moved towards the chair and kneeled down in front of her, gently taking the picture from her hands and smiling at the happy faces looking up at him.

"He was so proud of you Charlie." He looked up into her eyes. "He always was, you were all he ever talked about. God, you should have heard him bragging when you graduated from college. You'd have thought he was the only man on the planet with a daughter, he drove everybody crazy."

Charlie laughed through her tears and nodded her head. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, speaking into his hair. "I don't think I can do this, there's just so much stuff here. I don't know what to do with it all."

He sighed into her neck, breathing in her vanilla scent. "You don't have to do it alone. I'll be right here with you."

He felt her nod against him and she pulled back. "When I came out of the bathroom, you were gone, I thought you weren't planning on coming back."

Bass chuckled. "No, I smelled like a dead animal so I went home to shower," he hopped up off of the floor and went to the bags he had dropped on his way in, "and I stopped to get you something."

Her face immediately lit up and her smile warmed his heart. She jumped up from her seat and ran over to him. "Well, what is it?"

Rather than answering with words, he reached into one of the bags and pulled out a box. Charlie stared at it for a moment before she threw her head back and laughed.

"Seriously? Mini pizzas for breakfast?" She could say whatever bad thing she wanted to about them, but something about those stupid mini pizzas always made her smile, and her smile always made him happy.

_**February 13, 2025**_

_**Miles Matheson's house**_

_**Charlie is seventeen years old.**_

_Bass opened Miles' front door and went straight into the kitchen, dropping the grocery bags on the table. He set to work pulling out a plate and putting a mini, frozen pizza on it, before sticking it in the microwave. As soon as he had started the timer, a young woman with beautiful blue eyes came into the room. _

_Charlie was dressed in old sweatpants and her dad's USMC t-shirt. Her long, golden blonde hair was piled high on top of her head. She was holding her cell phone in one hand and a box of tissues in the other._

_"I heard the door. I thought you were an intruder." Her voice was hoarse and her eyes were swollen and watery._

_"Well it's a good thing I'm not, otherwise what were you gonna do, sneeze on me?" She made a pained sort of face and hopped up to sit in the counter._

_"Did my dad send you?"_

_In truth, yes. Miles had called him to tell him that he was stuck working late and that Charlie was home with the flu. However, Miles had also told him not to tell Charlie that he had mentioned it._

_"What makes you think that?"_

_Just then, her phone rang and without looking at it, she hit a button and held it to her ear. "Hi Daddy." She gave him a look that clearly said 'that's why.'_

_Bass couldn't hear Miles talking on the other end, he could only hear Charlie's responses. "Well Dad, I knew it was you because this is the third time you've called me in the last hour." She scoffed and rolled her eyes, making Bass chuckle._

_"No, Bass just got here... I just checked it twenty minutes ago... Dad, I don't think that's really-" she groaned and pulled a thermometer out of the cabinet behind her, "Fine, I've got it. You happy now?"_

_Miles said something else and she pulled the phone away from her ear, tapped a button and held it out to Bass. Miles' voice echoed around the kitchen. "Hey Bass, what's her temperature?"_

_Shaking his head with a smile, Bass answered, "I don't know dude, she just now put it in her mouth."_

_Charlie tried to speak around the thermometer but he put his hand under her chin to hold her mouth shut. "Mouth shut."_

_She glared at him, but remained silent until the thermometer beeped. He snatched it out of her mouth and read aloud, "99.8."_

_"See Dad, I told you, it's not that bad."_

_"Go back to bed honey, you still have a fever." Charlie frowned at her father's voice coming through the phone._

_"Dad-"_

_"Charlie, I said go back to bed."_

_"Fine." She huffed and hung up the phone without even saying goodbye._

_"He's just doing it because he cares. You know that." Bass looked at her sympathetically._

_She sighed, leaning back against the cabinet and wiped at her runny nose. "I know... and it would be adorable if he were anyone else's dad. But he's not, so it's annoying."_

_Bass chuckled. "Go back to bed Charlie."_

_She groaned, "Oh no, not you too."_

_"You heard him," he gestured for her to get off of the counter, "back to bed."_

_She hopped down but went in the direction of the microwave. "Ok, in a minute. I'm hungry and I see a mini pizza box over there." She pointed at the box on the counter with a big smile on her face._

_Bass put his hands on her shoulders and steered her towards her bedroom. "Don't worry, I'll bring you your food. Now go rest."_

_She turned in his arms so they were face to face and looked up into his eyes. "I'm a big girl Bass, I can take care of myself."_

_He smiled softly, admiring her stubbornness even when she's sick. "I know you are. Just humor me, please?"_

_She stared at him a moment longer before finally giving in. "Alright," she turned to head out of the kitchen but stopped in the doorway to look at him, "but don't expect me to come play nurse the next time you get sick."_

_"Fine, just go back to bed." She smiled at him one last time before going back to her room._

_Bass opened the refrigerator to get her a bottle of water and was suddenly struck by the image of Charlie playing nurse for him. The jolt it sent through him was exciting, but it was quickly stomped out by the guilt he felt._

_Had he really just thought that about Charlie? Sure she was beautiful, blonde hair, big blue eyes, and long lean legs, but she was only seventeen. She was Miles' daughter. What was wrong with him?_

_He was broken out of his guilty rant by his phone ringing in his pocket. The name flashing on the screen didn't exactly help the guilty feeling._

_"Yeah Miles."_

_"Did she go back to bed?" Miles worried voice made him laugh._

_"Yes, I made her go back to bed."_

_Miles sighed with relief. "Good, call me if anything changes."_

_"Miles, it's the flu, not ebola."_

_"I know that, I just... I'm just worried about her." The softness in Miles voice made Bass feel bad for making fun of him._

_"I know dude, don't worry though, I'll take care of her until you get home."_

_"Thanks Bass."_

_No problem, I'll see you later." Bass stuffed his phone back into his pocket and took a deep breath._

_It was one little thought. That didn't make him a bad person. Or did it?_

_The microwave dinged and he grabbed the plate out of it to take Charlie her food. He pushed all of those other thoughts away to analyze at some later date, really far away from now._

**Present**

In reality, that day had sat at the front of Bass' mind for a long time now. He had made it a point, after that little 'incident' as he liked to call it, to not spend time with Charlie by himself. If Miles wasn't going to be there, than neither was he.

Maybe he was overreacting, it's not like he's gone home every night and thought about her. It just makes him uncomfortable to think about her that way, so he removed himself from any situations that might cause that.

Now it's different though, Miles is gone, and Charlie is depending on him to be there for her. And he will, he'll just have to get over his weird little crush first.

Bass waved Charlie into the kitchen and pulled out some plates for their mini pizza breakfast. He went to the other bags and pulled out two beers, handing one to her.

"Beer? Bass, it's like eleven o'clock in the morning." She was looking at him like he had lost his mind but when she caught the nervous look on his face, she got worried.

"Bass? What's wrong?"

He sighed and shook his head. "I... I owe you an apology." He ran a hand through his hair as his blue eyes found hers. "You just lost your dad, I know what that's like. And I should have been there for you, at the funeral and last night."

Charlie blinked back a few tears and put a comforting hand on his arm. "Bass, I may have lost my dad, but you lost you brother too. You have just as much reason to be messed up as I do."

The guilt he had been feeling because he thought he had let her down disappeared and he smiled. He pulled the cap off of his beer and held it in the air. "To your dad."

Charlie took her top of and clinked her glass against his. "To your brother."

Together, they drank and ate while they mourned for the loss that they shared.

* * *

A/N I love all of the comments that you guys have left me! My main goal of this chapter was to let them mourn a little bit and show that Bass had been at least attracted to Charlie before Miles died. I always find it funny in fics when Charlie turns 18 and Bass is suddenly in love with her, lol. Let me know what you guys think!


	4. Chapter 4

**May 4, 2030**

**Chicago, Illinois**

**Miles Matheson's house**

**Six days since Miles death.**

Unfortunately, life in the real world goes on and Bass was out of vacation time, so Charlie had no choice but to start the packing process on her own. He was however, planning to 'get sick' at work today, so he could leave early. Boxes, boxes, and more boxes. Junk, trash, keepsakes, storage, and more junk. Apparently Dad wasn't so fond of throwing things away.

Bass had helped her pick a real estate agent the day before, they had called her together and arranged for her to come see the house at two o'clock. Charlie hoped that they would be able to get the house sold quickly. Not because she wanted to leave it, but because even if she used her savings, she would only be able to hold on to it for a few months at best.

Charlie had been so stuck in her own internal ramblings that she hadn't heard the front door.

"Hey kid, how are you?" Uncle Ben stood in the doorway of her dad's old bedroom.

"I'm fine. You?" She looked at him over the top of a box filled with old tax returns and he smiled at her, but she could tell he didn't really believe her. She could see it in his eyes.

"Your mom's been calling you," Charlie froze momentarily as she moved another stack of papers, "but you've been ignoring her calls."

Leave it to Uncle Ben to make her feel guilty for needing some space.

"Hey, I get," he raised his hands in mock surrender, "I know how she is. And I think that deep down, she knows too, and that's why she asked me to come invite you for dinner instead of coming herself. I think she just wants to make sure your doing more than just getting drunk with Bass."

She couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. Uncle Ben may not have been in the boys' little club, but he knew Miles and Bass so well.

"See? I knew it. Let me guess, pizza and beer for dinner every night?"

Laughing, Charlie glared at him. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

"Oh it's not, just don't tell your mother I said that." His face turned serious, "please come by tonight. I want your mom to stop worrying and I want to see you." He made it seem so simple. Go have dinner with mom, and suddenly everything would be better.

Charlie was temporarily saved from answering by the front door opening and closing again. Bass appeared in the doorway to the bedroom holding a plastic takeout bag. Noticing Ben, he frowned slightly. "Oh, I didn't bring enough food for three."

"Actually, I was just heading out. Rachel is waiting impatiently to see if Charlie's going to come for dinner tonight." He looked pointedly in her direction, and Bass followed his gaze. They both waited patiently for her decision.

She stared blankly at them for a moment, but then realizing that no one was going to come to her rescue, she sighed. "Fine. But tell her I can't stay long because I have a lot of stuff to do."

Uncle Ben frowned like he wasn't to fond of lying to his wife, so she smiled sweetly up at him. "Which isn't technically a lie, because we all know how much of a hoarder Dad was and it's gonna take me forever to get through all of this." She gestured at the stacks, and stacks of boxes before her.

Ben rolled his eyes, but nodded his head. "Alright, I'll take what I can get. But do you think you can answer your phone the next time she calls? She's starting to really worry."

"Deal." She grinned up at him, causing him to roll his eyes again. He started to leave but stopped short and set a hand on Bass' shoulder.

"You should come too, Bass. I think Rachel would like to see you."

Bass snorted and looked at Ben like he had suddenly grown a second head. "That's bullshit and you know it. Rachel can't stand me, never has been able too." He put a hand on Ben's shoulder, locking the two of them in a brotherly embrace. "I appreciate it, but I think I'll save us both the headache and sit this one out."

Ben chuckled and nodded his agreement. "Yeah, well, Miles would've been pissed if I didn't at least offer." He walked out into the hallway calling behind him, "later Bass. I'll see you later kid, and don't forget to answer your phone!"

They heard the front door shut behind him and they both laughed. Bass set the bag of food down on the dresser and came to stand behind where she was sitting on the floor. She was bent over a box full of papers, her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and the tight t-shirt she was wearing was riding up, showing off her creamy, touchable skin. He took a deep breath and stepped back, shaking his head to clear all of those unwarranted thoughts.

"Hey, you ok?" Innocent concern covered her beautiful features, and he knew that all of the time they had spent together the last few days was starting to go to his head. The wrong head.

He forced a smile, "yeah, just hungry."

She nodded like she didn't really believe him, but didn't press the issue. "Alright. Did you bring me mini pizzas?"

"No, don't you ever get tired of those things?" When she merely shook her head, he rolled his eyes and grabbed the bag. "How about some egg rolls?"

Charlie seemed to think really hard about his suggestion. Her eyebrows knit together, with a tiny frown on her face. Even when she's deliberately being a pain in the ass, he can't help but think about how fucking cute she is.

"I guess." She jumped up and snatched the bag out of his hand, heading off into the kitchen.

"You know, most people say thank you."

Stopping abruptly in the hallway so he almost ran into her, she turned to face him. "Thank you, 'Bastian."

He sucked in a breath and choked out, "your welcome, Charlotte."

She studied his face for a moment before going into the kitchen. He released a shaky breath and followed her. She was already sitting on the counter with a half eaten egg roll in one hand, and a container of sweet and sour chicken in the other.

They ate lunch in comfortable silence. Every now and then Charlie would look up just in time to see Bass looking away from her. She didn't ask why, they had so much going on that him staring at her didn't seem all that important.

When they had finished eating Charlie headed back into her dad's room to finish cleaning out his closet, while Bass went to the living room to start packing up the pictures hanging on the walls. He had just finished taping up another box and labeling it 'breakable' when the doorbell rang.

Charlie came out of Miles room, "that's gotta be the real estate lady." He nodded and followed her to the door.

Charlie opened the door to reveal a professional looking woman with auburn hair, and dark brown eyes.

"Hi, I'm Miranda Ford." She was holding out her hand for them to shake. "Are you Charlie? We spoke on the phone yesterday." The woman was smiling good naturedly, which immediately put them both at ease.

Charlie shook the woman's hand, "yeah, I'm Charlie. This is my friend Bass." He smiled, taking her hand and shaking it. "Come on in." They waved her inside and she looked around the living room.

"Nice space, but it could definitely use a fresh coat of paint," she looked over her shoulder at them, "buyers like to feel like they are walking into something fresh and new, even if it isn't." She smiled at them again, and went back to her criticizing of the living room before moving on to the kitchen.

Charlie turned to Bass with an eyebrow raised. He shrugged as if to say 'don't look at me, this was your idea.' She rolled her eyes, "you are so unhelpful."

"Did you say something, dear?" Miranda was looking at them from her place in front of the kitchen sink, where she appeared to be inspecting the faucet.

"No, sorry. You were saying?" Charlie did her best after that to pay attention, but there was so much stuff she said that they needed to do. It was making her head hurt. And Bass walking around next to her trying not to laugh wasn't helping.

As Miranda prepared to leave, she stood in the doorway to the kitchen, where she had just left a long list of updates for them to do. "This is a nice house, great starter home for a young couple, or a new family. Just get those updates finished and it should sell in no time." She smiled at them and turned to leave but stopped short, pointing at the doorway.

"You'll want to paint over these marks too. Depersonalize the space, so potential buyers can picture themselves here." With that, she left closing the front door behind her.

Charlie and Bass looked at each other with matching confusion. "What marks?"

They both went over to the doorway to see what she was talking about. Up and down the wall were faint pencil marks with dates written underneath them.

"Oh," Charlie's voice was soft, "those marks."

_**August 15, 2011**_

_**Miles Matheson's house**_

_**Charlie is four years old.**_

_"Ok honey, hold still." Miles stood in the doorway to the kitchen with a pencil in hand, trying to keep a squirming Charlie in place._

_"Daddy, I wanna play with my doggy!" Charlie had been begging for a dog for months, but due to Danny's allergy, that wasn't exactly a practical gift. So being the smart dad, he had gone out and bought one of those robot dogs that can walk and bark._

_"I gotta take him for his walk, he needs to pee-pee." She added that last part as a whisper. Like the dog would be embarrassed about having to pee _

_"Alright, we'll take him in a minute. I just need to mark how tall you are." Huffing and puffing like any agitated four year old, she held still so he could draw a line above her head._

_"See? That wasn't so bad." She stepped back and pointed at the line, her face a picture of amazement._

_"That's how tall I am?"_

_Grinning, Miles ruffled her blonde curls. "Yep, and look at this," he pointed at the next line further down the wall, "that's how tall you were last year."_

_"Woah, I got big." Her blue eyes were bulging, and he couldn't help but laugh and pull her into his arms, wishing she would stay little forever._

_The front door opened and Bass came in, balancing a cake in one hand while he shut the door. He barely had time to set the cake down before Charlie was pulling on his pantleg and dragging him towards the wall._

_"'Bastian, 'Bastian, look! Look how tall I am!"_

_Feigning shock, he put a hand over his mouth. "No way! I can't believe your so tall."_

_"Uh-huh, and guess what," but she didn't wait for him to guess, "I'm gonna get even bigger!" _

_He put a hand over his chest and gasped, Miles rolling his eyes at his friends antics. "No way. If you get any bigger, your gonna be taller than your dad."_

_Charlie's eyes went wide, her little mouth forming an 'o'. "Whoa."_

_Bass laughed and picked her up, placing her easily in his shoulders. "Told you, now your taller than your dad."_

_She was clinging to his hair and giggling like a mad man. "Daddy, look, I'm bigger than you."_

_Miles rolled his eyes again, but played along, putting a hand over his heart and acting surprised. "Oh my gosh, how did you get all the way up there? Your a giant."_

_Her squeals of laughter filled the entire house and the boys found themselves laughing with her. Eventually, Miles pulled her down off of Bass' shoulders and hugged her, kissing her head. _

_She turned in her father's arms to look at Bass, a serious expression on her small face. "Where's my present, 'Bastian?"_

_Both men erupted in laugher once again, causing the little girl to pout. She takes presents very seriously, she is four after all._

_"Let's eat some cake first, the you can have your present." At her look of outrage, he quickly cut in, "I promise, Charlotte. Cake first, then presents."_

**Present**

Bass ran his finger down the markings on the wall; August 14, 2015, August 16, 2014, August 2013, 2012. She had turned five that year and had been barely three feet tall.

"God, I forgot how little you use to be."

Charlie too, was touching the lines along the wall. Her hand wandered up further to August 14, 2027. Her twentieth birthday, Miles had been quite drunk and had demanded that she stand and let him measure her. She had done it laughingly, just to please him.

"Guess I'm not so little anymore, huh?"

She could feel his gaze on her and she daringly met his eyes. There was something there, bubbling just under the surface. She could feel it.

Bass grabbed a hold of himself long enough to tear his eyes away from her. "No, you aren't." He stepped back from the wall with a deep breath and looked at it thoughtfully. "I don't think we should paint this. Let's leave it, and if whoever buys the house doesn't like it, then they can paint over it."

Charlie smiled, trying to push away the emotions running through her. "Yeah, ok."

* * *

A/N Thank you so much for your fantastic reviews! I love them! So I had this entire chapter finished and then I got this one little idea and had to rewrite the whole thing to work it in. I hope it was worth it lol. Tell me what you think :-)


	5. Chapter 5

**May 5, 2030**

**Chicago, Illinois**

**Miles Matheson's house**

**One week since Miles' death.**

Bass was in Miles' bedroom trying to clear out the junk from underneath the bed when Charlie entered the room. He was wearing old, worn out jeans and a simple, white t-shirt that showed off his muscular arms and the black 'M' tattoo just below his elbow. She watched the muscles moving in his arms, his shoulders, and up his neck, admiring his strive for athletic perfection.

"Hey." Bass turned around to find Charlie in holey jeans and a tight, green tank top, that showed off just enough of her cleavage to make him wonder what the rest of it looked like underneath.

"Hey, how was dinner with Mommy?" His mocking tone caused her to roll her eyes.

"It actually wasn't so bad. Mom did tell Uncle Ben that he wasn't allowed to invite you over anymore though." She smirked over at him, "I think she's worried that one day you might actually say yes."

They both laughed and he stood up from his place on the floor, wiping sweat off of his face with the bottom of his shirt. Charlie's eyes seemed to move of their own free will as they took in his tan skin and tight abs.

She shook her head to clear away those thoughts and tried to push away the sudden flush in her cheeks. She cleared her throat as he put his shirt back down, "So my friend Alex, at work, she just got her first apartment. I told her she could have my old bedroom furniture, so she's gonna come by in the morning to get it. You wanna help me get it out and into the living room?"

"Yeah, I'm tired of cleaning up under Miles' bed anyway. It's mostly beer bottles and candy wrappers, I never thought he could be _that _disgusting."

Charlie snorted as they went into her old bedroom. Sky blue walls, white curtains, and light green sheets. When she had decided to move in with him, Dad had let her choose whatever she wanted to decorate the room, just to make her happy. And they had painted her room together, just the two of them.

Charlie stripped the old, faded sheets off of the bed and tossed them into the corner while Bass moved the bedside tables out of the way.

"Ready?" Bass was at the foot of the bed, ready to flip the mattress on it's side so they could slide it out of the room.

"Yep, ready." Charlie stood by the headboard and grabbed a corner of the mattress. They both pulled up at the same time, setting the mattress on it's side, on the floor, next to the bed.

"Wait!" Her shriek made him drop his end of the mattress and she had already let her end go, so it fell back down onto the box spring with a loud thump. He had been worried that she had gotten hurt somehow and that was why she was yelling, but judging by the surprised look on her face that wasn't why.

"Oh my God, look." Charlie stuffed her hand down in between the headboard and the mattress, reaching down close to the floor. What she pulled back up even shocked him. It was a fine, silver chain with a small, circular pendant hanging from it. Inside of the circle was a capital letter 'M'.

"I thought you said you lost it on the field during softball practice." He moved towards her to look at the pendant over her shoulder.

"I thought I did too. I looked everywhere for it, I was so upset. I can't believe it's been right here this entire time." She was staring down at the necklace with a loving smile on her face. "I was so mad at myself after I lost it, it felt like I let you down." She turned her head to look at him, and he could see the small question of fear in her eyes.

"It's just a necklace Charlie. You never let me down."

_**August 14, 2020**_

_**Miles Matheson's house**_

_**Charlie is thirteen years old.**_

_Bass opened the front door for Miles so he could carry the large stack of pizza boxes over the threshold while he himself carried several bags full of chips and sweets._

_"This better be worth all this work," he grumbled under his breath._

_Miles shot him a glare over his shoulder as he set the boxes down on the kitchen counter. "Of course it will. It's her birthday, we're supposed to do all of the work."_

_"Ok, then on my birthday she gets to do all of the work."_

_"Yeah, that's sooo not happening." Thirteen year old Charlie came stalking into the kitchen with a hand on her hip and a frown in her face._

_Bass scoffed at her. "See Miles? Teenager for a whole day and she already thinks the world revolves around Charlie." He looked knowingly at his brother, "Told you."_

_Miles simply rolled his eyes. "Who are you kidding, Charlie already thought the world revolved around Charlie, even before today." Both of the guys laughed at their own little joke while she glared at them._

_"You guys do know I can hear you, right?"_

_Miles chuckled and turned around to give his daughter a hug. "I'm just kidding sweetheart." He gave her a quick kiss on her head and headed back out to the car to grab some more stuff. Charlie looked at Bass with her eyebrows raised._

_"Don't get yourself all worked up about it Charlotte, we all know it's his own fault your so big headed. The man spoils you rotten." He hooked his thumb in the direction that Miles had just disappeared._

_Charlie tried to act like she was offended, but her smile found a way to seep in. "Well, it's not like he's the only one." She gave him a knowing look. "So what did you get me for my birthday 'Bastian?"_

_He frowned at her, "Now how do you know if I even got you a gift?"_

_Her smile grew even wider as she pointed at his left jacket pocket. "Because I can see the pretty, green ribbon poking out of your pocket."_

_Bass look down to see if she was telling the truth and sure enough, there it was. Busted, but maybe he could salvage the situation. "How do you know that I didn't get a present for Miles?"_

_"Because it's not Dad's birthday, annnd green is my favorite color. And you know that." She was smirking up at him in a self satisfied way and even he had to admit, internally of course, that she had caught him red handed._

_"Alright, fine. But make it quick, 'cause your dad's probably gonna freak." He pulled the small white box out of his pocket as she squealed with delight. Charlie hopped up onto the counter and ripped the ribbon off of the box._

_She pulled off the white lid to find a small, powder blue jewelry box. She looked up at him questioningly, but he merely shrugged and motioned for her to open it. She pushed the lid up and gasped when she saw the small, silver pendant inside._

_"Holy crap." She gingerly lifted the fine chain from the box and cradled it in her hands. Her eyes were shining brightly as her finger traced the small 'M' hanging there. "What... why?" _

_Bass chuckled, but took the necklace gently from her hands and motioned for her to get down so he could put it on her. She watched as the pendant swayed in front of her face before it fell to rest just beside her heart. Charlie turned to look at him with wide, questioning eyes._

_"When I told you about my tattoo," he gestured to his currently covered arm, "and how it represented Matheson and Monroe, and how we're family, you seemed to like the idea. And I figured your dad would like that better than me taking you out to get a tattoo." He pointed at the necklace now at home around her neck._

_She smiled and threw her arms around him. "It's awesome Bass, we already are family, but now I have proof." She pulled away from him and touched the little 'M', looking down at it. "But my dad's totally gonna kill you, this looks really expensive."_

_"Probably, yeah. But family is worth every penny." He patted her gently on the head and she smirked up at him. "What?"_

_"I can't believe you tried to pretend like you didn't get me anything. I mean, seriously, it's me we're talking about." He rolled his eyes and pulled her into a one armed hug just as Miles came back inside._

_"Dad, look what Bass got me." Charlie ran over to stand in front of her father, pointing at the gift around her neck while Bass closed his eyes waiting for the explosion. He had know when he bought it that Miles would freak, he didn't have a lot of money and he always refused any help that Bass offered._

_But the explosion never came. Bass opened his eyes to find Miles looking at his daughter's ecstatic face and a reluctant smile spread across his lips._

_"It's beautiful, honey. And it looks perfect on you."_

_Charlie giggled and hugged her dad before taking off to her room to call all of her friends to tell them about it. Because she obviously couldn't wait for the party that was due to start in less than an hour._

_Once she was gone, Miles looked at Bass, shaking his head. "And you say I spoil her."_

_Bass simply shrugged his shoulders, smiling apologetically. "Anything for Charlie, right?"_

_Defeated, Miles looked down at the birthday cake he had just brought in. "Absolutely."_

**Present**

"Here," Charlie held the necklace up to him, "help me put it on." She swept her hair away from her neck and Bass took in her sweet scent. He leaned closer to her to put the chain around her neck and lingered just a little too long while he admired the way the pendant fell just above the curve of her breasts.

His chest was pressed lightly against her back and he took his time snapping the clasp shut. "There." His voice was low and Charlie could feel his breath in her ear, making her shiver.

She turned on the spot so that their faces were only a few inches apart. "What do you think?" Her fingers trailed over the pendant, but her eyes never left his, and he knew that they weren't talking about the necklace anymore.

His pulse was racing and he could feel his ability to make rational decisions quickly fading away. "Beautiful." His eyes darted down to her lips for half of a second, but that was all that Charlie needed to know that she wasn't the only one feeling something between them.

She grabbed Bass' face in her hands and crashed her lips against his. He automatically wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her flush against him, slipping his tongue into her open mouth in order to finally taste the sweetness hidden inside.

Five years of deliberately avoiding her, and trying to pretend that his attraction to her didn't exist, obviously hadn't worked. She felt so good pressed up against him that he never wanted to let go. Charlie moved her hands to thread her fingers into his curls and he moved his to her hips, gripping them tightly. She moaned against his mouth which shocked him out of his finally fulfilling fantasy.

"Charlie..." he was gasping for breath with his face only inches from hers. Her lips were swollen and her eyes were a little glassy, but she seemed to gather herself enough to speak.

"Shhh, Bass, I don't want to talk anymore." She looked him directly in the eyes and the certainty that he saw there would ultimately be his undoing. He merely growled in response and angled his mouth over hers, their tongues rushing out to meet each other, twisting and turning and an epic battle.

His hands stroked up and down her back, over the sides of her breasts, down to her perfectly shaped, jean clad ass. He gave it a little squeeze and she ground her hips against his growing erection in response.

He groaned against her lips and tore away from them to suck on the soft flesh of her neck. Charlie threw her head back to give him better access and let out a curse as his hands found her breasts.

"Oh God." Her voice was thick with want and he stepped back, causing her to groan in frustration, and pulled her tank top over her head to reveal a simple blue bra with black polka dots. He lowered his face to bite and lick at the soft tops of her breasts while he reached behind her to undo the clasps at the back. He gently slid the straps down her shoulders and she let the garment fall to the floor, she stood proudly, bare before him, but he could see some uncertainty in her eyes.

"You are beautiful." She blushed as he cupped her breasts reverently, feeling their weight in his hands and kissing her lips again. This time slower, seeking out every corner of her mouth like he was looking for buried treasure.

Charlie's hands had wandered up under his shirt and she was trying to pull it off of him. He released her long enough to remove the shirt, but then grabbed her waist and started backing her towards the bed, kissing her as they went. When the back of her knees finally hit the bed, she smirked up at him while she undid the button on her jeans and slid them slowly down her legs, him watching them go the whole way down.

Her panties were bright green with little pink smiley faces on them. "Those are cute."

She grinned up at him as she sat down on the bed, scooting back to make room for him. "Yeah? Wait till you see what else I've got."

He practically snapped the button off of his jeans because he was trying to get them off so fast. His boxers were red with little Santa's on them, and he could feel his own blush on his cheeks. "Those are cute." She was clearly mocking him with that shit eating grin on her face.

"Well, I've been a little busy helping you, I haven't really had time for laundry." He smiled down at her as he crawled over to her, settling himself next to her on the bed.

"Sorry that I've taken up so much of your time." Though judging by the look on her face, she wasn't at all sorry.

"Don't be." He grabbed her waist and pulled her to him, tackling her mouth with his again. Kissing her deeply and touching every inch of exposed flesh he could reach. His lips trailed down her neck towards her breasts, and he took one of her nipples into his mouth, sucking hard on the little pebble.

Charlie arched into his touch and grasped the back of his head, pulling him to her while she pushed her hips against his. She could feel his cock against her thigh, but she longed to feel it somewhere else. Trailing her fingers down his tight stomach, she slipped her hand into his boxers and wrapped her fingers around his cock.

He hissed agaist her breast at the contact and groaned loudly when she stroked him from base to tip. "Shit, Charlie." He reached down and shoved her panties down past her hips, she helped him get them all the way off of her and into the floor before his fingers dipped between her thighs to find her wet and wanting. He circled her clit with his thumb while he nibbled on her collarbone. "Oh my God, you are so wet."

But Charlie was pretty much beyond intelligent thought by now, so the only thing she got out was an "Mmhmm." He kissed her again as his fingers found her opening and he pushed a single finger inside. She moaned and pushed her hips up into his hand, pushing his finger deeper into her. Bass added another finger and stroked her quickly, listening to her moan and feeling her body writhe next to him, as she started to tighten around his fingers.

He leaned down and pulled her nipple into his mouth, biting down on it, and she came hard. Her breath hitching in her throat as his name came tumbling from her lips. He let her ride out her orgasm on his fingers while he watched the blissful pleasure on her face, before pulling his fingers out of her and wiping them clean on the mattress.

He gently rubbed her sides and palmed her breasts while her breathing returned to normal, at which point she grabbed his face and kissed him, pulling him on top of her. They kissed deeply, and slowly at first. But as their kisses grew more heated, Bass' cock started throbbing again. "Charlie, I need-"

"Yes, Bass, yes, oh my God, yes." There was no mistaking that that was a 'yes' so he grabbed his cock in his hand and placed his head right at her entrance. He pushed slowly, sinking into her velvety depths, stretching her farther than any man ever had.

Bass started slowly. Pulling almost all of the way out of her before slamming back in, balls deep. They found a rhythm, moving together with his hips snapping into hers and her rising to meet him everytime. He latched onto her breast with his mouth and she wrapped her arms around him, not wanting him to get far away.

As the tension built between them he quickened his pace, thrusting into her hard and deep. Charlie wrapped her legs around his hips, forcing him even deeper inside of her and her nails started digging into the skin of his back.

He could feel his balls starting to tighten, but he wanted to feel her come around him so badly, like he needed it. So he slid one, rough hand between their bodies, finding her swollen clit with his thumb and rubbing it hard in quick, little circles. She bucked against him as she came, shouting his name, her nails no doubt leaving marks down his back.

The clenching around his cock was too much, he thrust deep one more time before he let out a long, low moan. Her name, as he spilled into her depths. He collapsed on top of her with his face in her hair, all worries of accidentally squishing her momentarily aside, trying to catch his breath.

Charlie pushed her fingers through his hair and he could feel her smiling against his neck. He pulled out of her gently and rolled onto his side next to her, smiling at her afterglow. Her eyes were drooping and her swollen lips were quirked up in a small smile.

Bass leaned over her and kissed her gently, then draped an arm over her stomach while he settled his head next to her shoulder. In the fading light from the window, he could see the pendant, his pendant, laying just above her breasts. He reached out and traced the small circle with his finger. Emotions that he had been trying to push aside for so long bubbled to the surface.

"Are you glad you found it?" He was refering to the necklace, but he had a feeling she knew that he meant more than just that.

Charlie sighed contentedly and rubbed her fingers through his hair. "More than anything, thank you, 'Bastian."

The sincerity in her voice struck at his heart. Swallowing thickly, he choked out, "Your welcome, Charlotte."

* * *

A/N Finally! I feel like I was torturing myself even more than them by making them wait so long. I feel like it really paid off though and I'm really happy with how this turned out. Did you guys think it was good? Please tell me, good or bad, I love hearing what you guys have to say. :-)


	6. Chapter 6

**May 12, 2030**

**Chicago, Illinois**

**Pittman Digital**

**Two weeks since Miles death.**

Charlie is riding in the elevator up to the 28th floor with her co-worker, Alex. They've done this everyday since Aaron hired her, and that was almost a year ago. Alex may be a friend from work, but she's the closest friend she has. Other than Bass.

"Alright, what's wrong? And don't tell me it's nothing, you've been back for two days and outside of doing your job, you haven't spoken to anyone." Charlie made to interupt her friend, but she held a hand up to silence her. "No, I get that your dad died, and I'm not trying to be a bitch, but you've been staring off into space for two days. I'm starting to get a little worried."

Charlie could see the sincerity and concern in her friends' eyes. She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. "He was supposed to come home today." At the look of confusion on Alex's face she elaborated, "my dad. He was supposed to fly home today, and we were going to go pick him up from the airport at 6:30 tonight. It was written on my calander on my desk, that's what I've been staring at." Alex's eyes were full of sympathy and Charlie had to look away. She was sick of people's pity.

"I know you don't want to hear it, but I am sorry, Charlie. Your dad was a great guy." She smiled gently at her and patted her shouder.

Charlie nodded and whispered, "thank you."

They rode in silence for a moment before Charlie couldn't hold it in anymore and she laughed, well sort of, it sounded more like a cry. "Me and Bass were gonna buy a cake to surprise him, and I was gonna decorate it with little American flags."

Alex gave her a quick one-armed hug just as the elevator dinged, indicating that they were on their floor. Charlie swallowed back her stupid tears, again, and stepped out onto their empty floor.

It was always empty at this time of the morning. Charlie was Aaron Pittman's personal assistant, and Alex was his wife, Priscilla Pittman's assistant. Their desks sat in an open lobby right outside of two offices, one was Aaron's the other was Priscilla's. She and Alex always got to work early, seven o'clock in the morning early, to prepare coffee, daily schedules, and in Charlie's case, snacks.

They moved in the same way they had over the past year, as if Charlie hadn't missed a week of work, and Alex hadn't been forced to deal with an incompetent stand-in while she was gone. Alex made coffee while she headed off to make copies of the agenda for the day and make a quick stop at the vending machine for a chocolate bar.

By the time Aaron and Priscilla stepped off of the elevator, both assistants were already sitting at their desks typing up responses to e-mails from annoying investors. Priscilla waved at Charlie as she went to Alex's desk for her coffee. Charlie handed Aaron his mug and discreetly snuck the candy bar into his jacket pocket.

Aaron closed his eyes briefly with a smile on his face. "God, I've missed you."

"Yeah, yeah, you can thank me later. Now get in there before your wife sees and she kills me." Charlie nudged him into his office following behind him with a stack of papers. "Ok, easy day today. You've got a briefing with the heads of all the departments at 8, some guy from the Department of Defence is coming at 9:30, then they need you down in the lab to work on whatever the hell 'Digital Markham' is."

Aaron snorted at her uncaring attitude, because other than the fact that she seemed a little sad, she was still Charlie.

"So does this mean that I actually get to eat lunch with my wife today?"

Charlie grimaced. "About that... and don't get mad at me because I wasn't even here." At that Aaron raised an eyebrow worriedly. "My stand-in scheduled you for an investors lunch today."

He threw his hands up in the air, "come on, seriously?"

"Sorry."

He recovered from his temper tantrum long enough to ask, "alright, well who is it at least?"

Charlie bit her lip and mumbled, "Tom Neville."

Aaron blinked at her. "What?"

She put her hands up in front of herself in mock surrender. "I know, and I tried to cancel, but he answered the phone directly and kept going on, and on about how much he was looking forward to it. I didn't even get to speak."

He groaned like an overgrown child and pouted. "Fine. But this means that I get an extra snack after lunch. I can't eat with that Neville guy around, he makes me nauseous."

Charlie chuckled on her way out of the room. "Alright, I'll see if I can sneak you something."

The rest of the morning passed easily. Answer the phone, type memos, send e-mails, answer more phone calls, get coffee refills. The dullness of it all was familiar and it put Charlie's mind at ease while she went throught the motions.

Around the time that Aaron was due back after his lunch, a delivery guy got off of the elevator and came her way.

"I have a delivery for Charlotte Matheson." He looked up at her expectantly as he set a small, dark blue box with a white bow on top, down on her desk.

"That's me." He held out his tablet for her to sign, and then disappered back into the elevator.

Alex jumped up from her seat and ran over to her desk. "Oooh, a mysterious package with no note on it. Charlie, do you have a secret boyfriend your not telling me about?"

Charlie rolled her eyes at her friend. "No, it's from Bass. Or at least I think it is, he's the only person I know that actually calls me Charlotte."

Most of the excitement drained from Alex's face, but she still inspected the box with interest. "So what is it?"

Laughing, Charlie pulled the top off of the box and they both peeked inside. Sitting in the bottom of the small box was a single cupcake, it had red icing and a tiny American flag poking out of the top.

"Oh." It was all she could think of. What else was she supposed to say? She couldn't believe that Bass remembered that conversation, it had been almost a month ago, and the fact that he had been thinking about it just like she had brought tears to her eyes.

And of course, just as they started to fall, the elevator dinged and a grumpy looking Aaron stepped out. He was huffing and puffing, mumbling under his breath, until he reached her desk and saw her face. His eyes went from the tears on her cheeks to the cupcake that Alex had removed from the box.

He took one look at the flag on top before walking over, grabbing her hand, and pulling her into his office, shuting the door behind them. He pulled her into a tight embrace and she let him, the relationship she had with her boss wasn't exactly what anyone would call 'normal.'

"Hey, it's ok." He rubbed soothing circles on her back while she stained his nice shirt with her tears.

She pulled away from him, wiping her face. "I'm sorry, I just..."

"Hey, come on, you don't have to apologize. Besides, you put up with my crap all day, it's about time I took a turn anyway." He was trying to make her laugh, and thankfully, it worked. She chuckled thickly, nodding her head.

"I just miss him."

Aaron nodded understandingly, "it'll get better. I miss him too, you know. Never thought I would say those words, but your dad was actually one of my best friends. When Ben told me his niece needed a job, I was a little unsure because he had told me some stories about Miles. But I'm glad I hired you, and that I got to know him."

_**June 26, 2029**_

_**Pittman Digital**_

_**Charlie is twenty-one years old.**_

_Miles is walking down a busy street when his ancient looking cell phone starts ringing from his pocket._

_"Hello?"_

_"Dude, where are you? I thought you were meeting me and Jeremy for lunch." Bass' clearly annoyed voice was sounding through the phone._

_"Shit, sorry dude, I'll meet you guys later. I have something I have to do first." The serious tone in Miles' voice caught Bass off guard._

_"What? Is something wrong?"_

_Chuckling, Miles answered, "no, dude everything's fine. I'm just going to see Charlie at her new job."_

_There was silence from Bass' end of the phone for a moment. "Man, are you sure that's a good idea? It's only her first week there, and you know she'll be pissed if you go in there and embarass her."_

_"What?" His voice was incredulous, "Charlie isn't embarassed by me."_

_"No, no, no, I just mean it's her first big job, in a big professional building where people wear suits and shit. You've seen the stuff she wore to work this week, dress pants and heels. You can't go in there wearing your favorite worn out Converse."_

_Miles looked down at his favorite shoes, glad that Bass couldn't actally see him. "Dude, it's a bulding full of geeks, don't worry I got it covered. I borrowed one of Ben's old Star Wars t-shirts."_

_Bass sighed loudly and he could hear Jeremy laughing nearby. "Man, Ben's like, six inches shorter than you, there's no way that shirt fits you."_

_Miles tugged at the bottom of the shirt self consciously. "Whatever, it doesn't matter the point is, that the nerds up in Geektown with Charlie, are gonna love it."_

_Bass groaned as Jeremy's laughter got even louder. "Ok, but whatever happens, I knew nothing about this. When Charlie freaks out, I had nothing to do with it."_

_"Alright, fine. I'll talk to you later." And without so much as a goodbye, he stuffed the phone back into his pocket and walked into the lobby of the Pittman Digital building. The receptionist in the main lobby was a young lady with dark red hair and she smiled at him as he approached her desk._

_"Can I help you, sir?" He noticed her eyes wandered down to the lettering on his shirt before popping back up to his, a small smirk on her face._

_"Uh, I'm here to see my daughter, her name's Charlie, I mean Charlotte Matheson." Now he felt stupid, the receptionist probably thought he didn't even know his own daughter's name._

_The girl smiled at him, "Charlie? Oh, she's up on the 28th floor with Mr. Pittman." She handed him a visitors badge and he pinned it to his chest. "Just take the elevator and she's right there on your left, you can't miss her."_

_Nodding, he headed off to the elevator and got in with a crowd of people that looked like they were all about fifteen years old. He hit the number 28 and fidgeted uncomfortably until they all got off around the 20th floor._

_When the doors finally dinged open on 28, he stepped out and looked to his left. The girl downstairs had been right, he couldn't miss her because she was sitting right out in the open. Her head was bent over a stack of papers and she had a pencil in hand, he walked over to her desk and stood directly in front of her._

_She spoke without ever lifting her head, "give me just a second, and I will be right with you."_

_He tried not to laugh at her professional sounding voice, but it was hard because she didn't sound anything like his daughter. "Don't worry, I've got time."_

_Charlie dropped the pencil she was holding and looked up at him with wide eyes. "Dad?" She looked around the room, but the desk straight across from her own was empty. "What he hell are you doing here?" She was trying to yell and whisper at the same time, the result being that she just sounded like she had a sore throat._

_"Jeez, is that any way to greet your father?" He was trying to sound hurt, but the annoyed look on her face was just too funny._

_She rolled her eyes at him. "What are you doing here? I'm working." She picked up a black coffee mug that was sitting on the corner of her desk and went to the coffee pot on the other side of the room, Miles following behind her._

_"What your boss can't get his own damn coffee?"_

_"Hey, Charlie." She and Miles both turned around to find a chubby man with a beard looking at them. He completely ignored Miles as Charlie walked over and handed him his cup. He gave her a stack of papers as he took a sip, "send these down to Peter for me, and tell him I need to know what he thinks by two o'clock."_

_Charlie was certain that Aaron had heard what her dad had said, and she figured she probably wouldn't have a job by the end of the day._

_Aaron finally looked at Miles, his eyes taking in his appearance. "Do I know you?"_

_Miles started to speak, but Charlie cut him off. "Uh, no, Mr. Pittman, this is my dad, Miles Matheson." She glared at her father as if to say 'be nice' so he stuck out his hand for the man to shake._

_"Nice to meet you."_

_The chubby guy shook his hand and laughed, "that explains the 'get my own damn coffee' thing. Ben's told me a lot about you."_

_Miles merely smiled like he wasn't sure whether or not that was a good thing._

_"Well, I've got stuff to do. It was nice meeting you." Aaron went back towards his office but turned back around, "cool shoes, dude."_

_Miles grinned as the fat guy disappeared into his office, the guy liked his shoes, but he flinched when he saw the angry look on his daughter's face. _

_She pointed angrily at the elevator and growled, "get out. I'll see you at home."_

_He smiled sheepishly at her as he walked back towards the elevator, "I'm sorry, I just wanted to see where you work. Look at you, all big and important."_

_She rolled her eyes at him, "I'm just an assistant, Dad."_

_"Yeah, but your the bosses assistant." He smiled down at her, "I'm proud of you."_

_She bit her lip and looked around in order to make sure that the room was clear before standing on her toes to peck him on the cheek and whispering, "love you, Daddy. I'll see you later."_

_Miles stepped into the elevator and watched his daughter walk back to her desk as the doors closed. She may be all grown up, but she's still his little girl._

**Present**

After that day, Miles had called Ben, who then called Aaron, and the three of them had gotten together for a beer. Bass had joined them of course. The four of them made the strangest group of drinking buddies you've ever seen, but man were they fun to watch.

Her dad had started inviting Aaron to any and all family get togethers after that. Barbecues, birthdays, or even just for poker night. Aaron and Priscilla had even been invited to the Matheson family Christmas dinner at her mom and Uncle Ben's house.

She and Aaron had grown so close that their relationship could hardly be described as employer-employee. It was more like older brother-sister. She may have gone to college and graduated with a degree in political science, but now, she knows that the computer world is where she belonged all along.

Aaron was still looking at her with concern on his face. "You wanna take the rest of the day off? I can handle everything for the rest of the day."

"No, I'm fine. I promise." She gave him a quick hug and went back to the lobby. Alex had returned to her desk, but the cupcake was still sitting there proudly on Charlie's.

She suddenly found herself smiling. Yes, the idea behind the cupcake made her sad, but the thought behind it warmed her heart. Bass knew how upset she would be today, and this was his way of trying to help.

Speaking of Bass, her phone beeped as he sent her a text message. '_Did you get it?'_

Smiling, she messaged him back. _'Ya I did. Thanks :-)'_

_'Coming over for dinner? I was thinking Italian.'_

_'Will there be cupcakes after?'_

_'I think I can find us something for dessert ;-)'_

Charlie grinned at the screen on her phone even though she knew Bass couldn't see her. _'I'll be there.'_

* * *

A/N So I know there wasn't much Charloe here, but I wanted to show more of Charlie and her relationship with Miles. There will be lots of Bass and Charlie in the next chapter, promise! :-) Thanks for reading, let me know what you think. :-)


	7. Chapter 7

**May 23, 2030**

**Chicago, Illinois**

**Ben and Rachel Matheson's house**

**Three weeks and four days since Miles death.**

"Thanks for lunch, Mom." Charlie smiled at her mother as she took the plate from in front of her and walked over to the sink.

"Oh it's no problem honey, I'm just glad you were able to come over." Rachel had called her daughter four times that week and asked her to come over, but Charlie had given her an excuse each time. She felt a little guilty for lying to her mother, but on the other hand, her mom was really annoying.

"Yeah, I know, I've just been really busy with work and stuff." And stuff. Meaning Bass. Who her mom hates.

Uncle Ben shot her a disbelieving look while Mom's back was turned. "What have you been up to?" He smirked at her like a cat that caught a mouse in a trap.

"Aaron's been working on this huge project down in the lab which means that all of his paperwork and stuff is falling behind, so I've been doing all of my regular work while I try to help him keep up with his."

He shot her another look that clearly said that he knew she was full of crap, but didn't call her on it. It's a good thing too, otherwise she'd have been forced to tell him that she'd been to busy having super hot sex with Bass to spend time at her mom's house.

"It sounds like you've been busy." Her mom was trying to sound interested, but Charlie has known her entire life that Rachel Matheson is only truly concerned with three things; Danny, herself, and making Bass' life miserable.

"It's a good kind of busy, it gives me something to do." As much as she tried to keep the sadness out of her voice, the sympathetic look on her uncle's face was enough to tell her that she failed. Luckily though, she was saved from more pity by his cell phone ringing, and he headed toward his home office to check some numbers.

Her mom was still cleaning dishes in the sink, but she turned to look at Charlie. "What are you doing this weekend? Danny will be here so I was thinking we could have a family night, play a board game or watch a movie."

Board games? Now she was definitely trying to hard and it was painful to watch her mom attempt to be motherly. But somewhere in the universe there must be some sort of God, because her mom's phone started to ring, which saved Charlie from having to commit to spending the weekend with her.

Charlie didn't technically have plans for the weekend, though she had been hoping to spend most of it with Bass. Speaking of Bass, her own phone started to ring and she grinned when she saw his name flashing on the screen.

"Hey, Bass."

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"Well, I just got done having lunch with my mom."

He snorted into his phone, "sounds like fun."

"Oh yeah, spending time with Mom is always fun." Charlie let the sarcasm drip easily off her tongue.

"Whatever you say." They both chuckled for a moment and then Bass took a deep breath. "So I was actually calling to ask you something."

The seriousness in his voice caused the smile to slip from Charlie's face. "Ok, what's up? Is something wrong?" She mentally smacked herself for being that girl. Your boyfriend calls and he sounds serious, so you automatically expect the worst.

"What? No, nothing's wrong," he chuckled nervously before clearing his throat, "I was just calling to see if you wanted to come over for dinner tonight."

"Uh," she huffed a laugh into her phone, "Bass, you do realize that I've been eating dinner at your house for like, the past two weeks, right?"

She could tell that Bass had pulled the phone away from his head so he could laugh without blowing out her eardrum. "No, I mean yes, I know that you've been over here," now he was back to sounding nervous, "but we haven't had like... an official date yet, and I was just thinking..."

Charlie's heart lept into her throat. It hadn't even occured to her that they'd been sleeping together for over two weeks, but that they'd never even been on a date. And he had noticed.

"Did you just ask me out?"

"Yes, Charlie. Would you like to go on a date with me?" He was making fun of her now, she could hear the smile in his voice. So she figured she couldn't just let him get away with it.

"At your house? What, are you afraid to be seen with me in public?"

She could hear him sputtering on the other end and she had to cover her mouth to conceal her laughter. When he started rambling about all of the other places he could take her to, she finally took pity on him.

"Bass. Bass, stop talking." She waited until he fell silent on the other end. "I was kidding. I would love nothing more than to come over to your house and have you cook me dinner. Again." Charlie found herself giggling against her will so she slapped a hand over her mouth again while he sighed with what she figured was relief.

"Great," he sounded excited now, "I'll have everything ready by seven. Don't be late."

"I'll be there, I promise." She hung up the phone and set it on the table, trying to contain the sudden urge to squeal like a little school girl.

"Somebody is cooking you dinner? Again?" Charlie whipped around in her seat to find her mom looking at her with a smile on her face. "I didn't know you were seeing anyone."

"Uh..." Now logically, in her mind, Charlie knew that keeping her relationship with Bass a secret wasn't going to help anything. But she wasn't sure that she could handle any of the fallout that would come from Rachel finding out about it. So she opted to keep it to herself. For now at least. "Yeah, he wants to make me dinner."

"And who is 'he'?" Rachel may not be particularly interested in her daughter's life, but she was still as nosey as anyone could get.

Charlie made a show of putting her phone back in her pocket to stall for time. "He's just a guy from work, it's nothing serious or anything." But even thinking that suddenly made her heart hurt. She wasn't exactly sure, though judging by the fact that he had just called her for an official date, but she felt that her and Bass were getting serious. Not to mention the fact that she had started referring to him as her boyfriend in her head.

"Well I'm glad your seeing someone. That's better than you spending all of you time with Bass." The disgusted way that Rachel said his name sent Charlie rushing to defend him.

"Bass has been great to me, you know. Ever since the funeral he's been there for me, helping me with the house and packing up all of Dad's stuff. But it's not just that kind of stuff either, he asks me how I'm doing everyday, he's always checking to make sure I'm ok. You have no idea how hard this has been for me, and Bass has been there." Charlie wiped angrily at her cheeks to rid them of the few tears that had snuck up on her.

Rachel was stunned into a momentary silence. She'd known for a long time that Bass held a special place in her daughter and ex-husband's life's, but she hadn't realized that it went so deep.

"I'm sorry Charlie, I know this has been hard on you, it's just that... Bass and I don't really get along."

Charlie rolled her eyes at her mother, "really? No kidding."

_**June 24, 2015**_

_**Miles Matheson's house**_

_**Charlie is seven years old.**_

_Miles was sitting on the front steps of his house waiting for Rachel to drop Charlie off for the weekend. Typical Rachel, she was right on time, her strive for absolute perfection would prevent otherwise. Charlie was out of the car before Rachel even put it in park, her long, blonde hair pulled up into a ponytail. She was wearing a simple t-shirt, jeans, and little black Converse, just like his. She was a tomboy through and through._

_"Daddy!" He didn't move from his seat as she plowed into him, kocking him backards on the step. He hugged her tight and kissed her head before she untangled herself from him and turned to her mother who had gotten out of the car. Rachel was holding Charlie's green backpack with her clothes for the weekend in it and Charlie snatched it out of her hands before turning to her dad excitedly._

_"Guess what Uncle Ben got me?" But in typical Charlie fashion, she didn't wait for him to guess and pulled a large book from her backpack._

_Miles laughed, "he got you a book? Of course he did."_

_She rolled her eyes at her father. "No, Daddy look," she shoved the book under his nose, "it's a book about spiders!" Miles found her fascination with the little creatures disturbing but he had read somewhere online that kids go through phases like women buy shoes, so he'd been trying not to read too much into it._

_"Cool," out of the corner of his eye, he could see Bass' car coming down the street. "You know what? I bet Bass would love to look at it with you." He snorted as she ran down the drive way to Bass' car as he was getting out. _

_Bass hated spiders, he was bit by a poisenous one when they were kids, and had been terrified of them ever since._

_It wasn't until that moment that he realized that Rachel was still standing there. Her mouth was stretched in a tight line and her eyes were narrowed. "What is he doing here?"_

_Mentally kicking himself for not thinking to call Bass and tell him to wait ten minutes, he groaned and got up to face his ex-wife. "It's the weekend, we're gonna have burgers off of the grill tonight."_

_"Miles, I don't want him around my daughter."_

_"Come on Rach, what's your problem? Charlie practically worships him." He slapped a hand to his forehead, if there was anything he shouldn't have said, that was it._

_"That's exactly my point Miles," her voice was rising to dangerous levels, "I don't want her to pick up any of his bad behavior!"_

_"What are you talking about? He didn't even do anything!" _

_Bass was standing next to his car, a bag of potato chips and some soda for Charlie in his hand, Charlie was standing next to him clutching her book to her chest. They both stared on as her parents screamed and yelled at each other in the front yard. Bass glanced down at her and his heart broke when he saw the light sheen of tears in her blue eyes._

_He stuck out his free hand for her to take, "come on, let's go around through the back door." She nodded and put her little hand in his, they walked around the house into the backyard, and entered through the sliding glass door. They headed into the kitchen and he set the bag down on the counter before looking over at her._

_Charlie had placed herself in front of the kitchen window, looking out at her parents arguing outside, their voices muffled by the glass between them. He walked over to stand next to her and they stood quietly, side by side, for a few minutes._

_Finally, she spoke in a sad voice. "Why do Mommy and Daddy hate me?"_

_To say that he was shocked by that question would be an understatement. "What do you mean hate you? Your parents love you, Charlie."_

_She looked up at him with big, sad eyes. "Then why do they always yell when I'm around?"_

_Bass would kill Miles and Rachel if he didn't know how much it would hurt Charlie to have them gone. Parents weren't supposed to make their children feel this way._

_He crouched down in front of her and took her little hands in his. "They aren't yelling about you, Charlie. Your parents love you more than anything, they just don't really like each other. Does that make sense?"_

_She was thinking, her face screwed up in concentration. Eventually, she shrugged, "yeah, I guess."_

_She still looked a little sad and it killed him to see her that way, so he looked around to try and find something to cheer her up. He looked at the book she was still holding to her chest and realized that it was probably his best bet._

_"What's that?" He pointed to the book in her arms and her face immediately lit up._

_"Uncle Ben got me this really cool book." She held it out to him, but he jumped back when he saw what was on the cover. The spider was huge. With eight long, fuzzy legs, and a ton of creepy little eyes. Even a simple picture was enough to send shivers down his spine._

_Charlie forwned up at him worriedly, " 'Bastian, what's wrong?"_

_He managed to regain his composure, taking another step away from the book. Her little lips curved into a big smile. "Are you afraid of spiders?"_

_He scoffed at her and went to the refridgerator, pretending to look for something. _

_"No way, you totally are!" He whipped around to tell her to shut her mouth, but the grin on her face stopped him. He had been trying to make her smile, well, it worked._

**Present**

Charlie left her mother's house in a bit of a bad mood, but she pushed it aside. She didn't want to ruin her night with Bass over something so stupid.

She paced in front of her closet for hours, trying to decide what to wear. Laughing at herself because she knew that Bass wouldn't care if she showed up in her pajamas, and then going right back to worrying because she had no clue what he was expecting.

Finally, she decided that if it was supposed to be a date, then she was going to dress for one.

OpOpOpOpOp

Bass was standing in front of the stove wearing dark jeans and a light blue button up shirt. He couldn't figure out why the hell we was so nervous. It wasn't like he had never cooked for Charlie before, in fact, he had made dinner for them both on Tuesday.

But the term 'date', well, that changed everything. He had turned most of the lights off and lit a few candles. He was praying that Charlie didn't think it was _too_ corny. His stomach was in knots, wondering if it was all too much, if he should run back and change, if-

But he didn't get to worry anymore, because front door creaked open and the sound of high heels clicking on his hardwood floors cause his heart rate to soar.

Charlie stood in the dorway to the kitchen wearing a black dress that reached just above her knees. The dress hugged her curves and showed off her cleavage before flaring out around her thighs. Her simple black heels were sexy as hell, and made her legs look a mile long. Her long, blonde hair fell in gentle waves around her face.

"Holy shit." The words slipped out of his mouth before he could stop them and he felt himself blush.

Charlie walked over to him slowly, biting her lip. "Is it too much? I mean, you said-"

"No, my God, Charlie you're perfect." He laid a hand gently on her waist and pulled her closer to him, kissing her gently on the lips. She responded immediately, running her hands over his scruff. They broke apart smiling and Charlie looked down at the pan he was cooking in.

"Is it almost ready?"

"Yeah, and I even made dessert." He winked a her as he pointed at the counter next to the sink. There was a small, circular, chocolate cake sitting on a plate.

Charlie licked her lips, looking at him mischeviously. "Mmmm, I can't wait."

Bass suddenly found himself really eager to get dinner over with, he was even tempted to suggest that they skip dinner and go straight for dessert. But this was their first date, and Charlie deserved better than that.

They talked about boring stuff while Bass dished their food onto plates. The weather, work, those types of things. Charlie told him that the real estate lady had called, she had done another showing of the house, but hadn't had any offers yet. He could tell that that worried Charlie, but he didn't say anything, sometimes those types of things just take time.

When they sat down at the dinner table, with candles, he pulled out her chair for her and she smiled at him over her shoulder, her blonde hair trailing down her back. He had to resist the urge to reach out and touch her because he wasn't sure he'd be able to make himself stop if he did.

He sat across from her as they ate in silence, not uncomfortable, but charged, like you could feel the electricity between them. He watched the fork pass through her lips and the image of them passing over something else entirely made his cock twitch. He shook his head to clear that thought away and she looked at him curiously. Her lips quirked up at the side, eybrow raised, and he was suddenly struck by how much she reminded him of Miles.

Miles.

That uncomfortable guilt crept back into his mind. It happened everytime he thought too hard about who Charlie was, about how he had spent the last two weeks in bed with her. Grinding his teeth together, he pushed all of that to the side and focused on the beautiful woman before him. She wasn't just Miles' daughter to him anymore, hell, she hadn't been for a long time. She was so much more than that now, but everytime he let himself think too much about it, the guilt latched on and wouldn't let go.

"What's wrong?" Charlie looked at him with question in her eyes as she took the last bite of food from her plate, licking her fork clean.

His eyes watched her tongue as it moved over the smooth surface and he could feel his cock straining against his pants. "It's nothing, don't worry about it."

But he knew that Charlie knew he was a horrible liar. She tilted her head slightly with a frown on her face. "What is it? You can tell me, Bass." The sincerity and concern in her eyes was too much, so he told her the truth.

"I just... I can't help but think about Miles, and... what he would think about... this." He pointed between the two of them.

Charlie nodded understandingly. "I know what you mean. I was talking to my mom earlier and thinking about how much she would hate this, hate us, and then it occured to me that I'm not sure how Dad would react. Would he be alright with it, or would he hate us both?"

Bass reached across the table and took her hand. "Your dad would never hate you Charlie, never." He leaned back but didn't let go of her hand, "me on the other hand, not so lucky."

She smiled at him, studying his face. "I don't know about that. I think that my dad would want you to be happy." And there was the question. Did she make him happy? Is that was this was between them?

"Well then I think we're alright," Bass stood up from his chair, pulling her with him, "because I am happy."

"You are?" He could see the question and uncertainty in her beautiful eyes, so he kissed her softly and whispered against her lips, "yes, I am."

Charlie kissed him back with a passion he hadn't felt from her before. Her hands grabbing at his shoulders and hair while her tongue found it's way into his mouth, taking over control. He wrapped his arms around her to pull her close, but other than that, he let her take the lead.

When she started pulling him towards the living room he stopped her. "What about dessert?"

Smirking up at him, she started undoing the buttons on his shirt. "Don't worry Bass, it's chocolate cake, I'll eat it later." Then her lips were back on his, she backed him up to the couch as she pulled his shirt off and he reached for the zipper on her dress. But to his surprise, she pushed his hands away and continued on with his pants. Unbuttoning them, and ridding him of his jeans and boxers.

He was standing there, completely naked in his own living room, while Charlie was still fully clothed. She noticed the confused look on his face and smiled before pushing him hard in the chest, so he fell onto the couch. He looked up at her questioningly, but she merely bit her lip, pulling the plump flesh between her teeth.

Her hands disappeared behind her and the sound of her zipper made his cock thicken with want for her. She let the dress slide slowly down her arms and over her hips before pooling at her feet. Her lacy black bra and matching panties caused him to groan while he reached for her. She backed away with a smug, little grin on her face.

"What do you think of these?" She ran her hands lighty over the fabric of her bra, cupping her breasts gently, before moving her hands down to adjust her panties on her hips.

"I'd like them a whole lot better if they were a little closer." His voice was low and rough, that perfect tone that made her center ache. She moved slowly, having already planned this out in her mind, and dropped to her knees, pushing his legs apart to make room for herself.

Bass groaned and reached out to touch her, but she batted his hands away with a smirk. "Not yet." Her tone was teasing and playful, but he ceased to care about that when her warm fingers wrapped around his cock. She stroked him lightly from base to tip, her other hand lightly moving up his stomach to tweak one of his nipples.

This was a side of Charlie he hadn't seen before, and hell did he love it. He let his head rest against the back of the couch for a moment, shutting his eyes, enjoying her touch. But he was jolted back upright by a wet, warm touch on the head of his cock.

Charlie's eyes were locked on his as she slid her tongue along his shaft, pulling a low groan from his lips. She took that as her cue to continue and he let out a loud moan as her mouth closed around his cock. She started out shallow, only taking the head into her mouth as she stoked his base with the other hand. But as she grew more confident, she took as much of his large cock as she could into her mouth, humming in satisfaction around his shaft.

"Oh fuck, Charlie." He watched her smile around his cock and he could't help but watch her. Beautiful blonde hair spilling around her shoulders as her perfect lips moved up and down his shaft. Her hands stroking and cupping his balls. He wasn't sure how long he would last, and he wanted to touch her so badly, so he grudgingly pushed her away, ignoring her look of confusion, and pulled her into his lap. He tangled his fingers in her hair and pulled her close, kissing her deeply.

Charlie seemed to get the picture because she wound her arms around his shoulders, kissing him back while she ground her panty covered ass on his cock. He ran his hands over the lacy bra, loving the way it felt under his touch, but quickly unsnapped it to get it out of his way. She giggled as he tossed it aside with a grunt.

"I thought you said you wanted them closer?"

"Yeah, well now I like it much better over there on the floor." Her laughter was cut short by the moan that escaped her lips as his mouth latched onto her nipple. Her panties were soaked and he wanted nothing more than to rip them off of her. Luckily, she had the same idea because she abruptly stood up and took them off, tossing them onto the side of the couch, and climbing quickly back into his lap.

She wasted no time in sliding her soaked folds along his shaft, coating it with her juices. He grabbed the base of his cock while she raised herself up, and he placed himself at her entrance. Their eyes met and he pulled her down for a deep kiss. Charlie slammed herself down on him, impaling herself on his cock while she moaned against his lips. She stayed there for just a moment before she raised herself up and slammed back down again, fully seating herself on his cock.

Bass groaned as she slid along his shaft, Charlie's tight walls were already twitching around him, neither of them were going to last long. She rolled her hips and set a fast pace, raising up and then slamming back down again. He put his hands on her hips to help keep her steady and watched as her breasts rose and fell, her hair tumbling around her face.

Her hands were on his shoulders, her nails digging into his skin. His balls started to tighten and he groaned, trying to push her away, "Charlie, I gotta..." but it was too late. His hot come shot up into her and she threw her head back, the sensation of being filled throwing her over the edge. They rode out their orgasms together before she collapsed in his arms, his cock still buried in her depths.

When he finally caught his breath, the only thing he can think to say was, "wow."

Charlie snorted into his neck, planting a kiss just below his ear. "Yeah."

They stayed there for a while, Bass stroking her back as Charlie started to drift off to sleep.

"Bass?" Her voice sounded sleepy.

"Hmmm?"

"Take me to bed." He chuckled into her hair before kissing her shoulder and lifting her off of his lap. He got up from the couch and picked her up, she snaked her arms around his neck and laid her head against his shoulder.

"Thank you, 'Bastian."

"For what?"

"The best first date ever."

He laughed as he set her gently on his bed and she burrowed under the covers. He climbed in next to her, wrapping himself around her body. She was practically already snoring. He smiled against the skin of her shoulder as his eyes drooped closed. "Your welcome, Charlotte."

OpOpOpOpOp

The next morning Bass woke up in an empty bed. Groaning because he had to leave its warmth, he went in search of Charlie.

He found her in the kitchen, which wasn't surprising, sitting on the counter, which again, wasn't surprising. She was wearing nothing but his blue button up from the night before and smiled warmly at him as he came into the room.

"The cake is really good." She pointed at the plate in her left hand with the fork in her right. "I'm kinda sad we skipped dessert." She put the last bite of cake into her mouth and chewed it, licking the chocolate off of her lips.

Bass did his best to look hurt. "You're sorry?" He moved to stand between her legs that were dangling off the side of the counter.

She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Well I'm not _that_ sorry." He grinned as he leaned in to kiss her, his hands moving to her waist. The kiss started out slow and gentle, but turned heated quickly and Charlie had to push lightly at his chest. He rested his forehead against hers, "sorry Bass, but I have to go to work."

He gave her his best puppy dog look, "oh, come on, Aaron's not gonna care if you're a little late."

She gave him a disapproving look as she hopped down from the counter. "No, he probably wouldn't. But that would be taking advantage of our friendship, and Aaron's done a lot for me lately anyway."

Bass heaved an exaggerated sigh, "fine. But the next time I see Aaron he and I are going to discuss your work hours."

Charlie laughed as she headed into the living room to look for her clothes. She picked up her dress and lace bra, then looked around, her eyes scanning the floor. "Do you see my underwear anywhere?"

He looked around the room, behind the couch and under the coffee table. Coming up empty, he shrugged. "What, you didn't bring any spare clothes?"

To his surprise Charlie actually bushed and avoided his eyes. "No, I uh... I guess I wasn't thinking about it." She looked... uncomfortable maybe? No, unsure.

"Well maybe you should bring some extra clothes over, you know, so you won't have to worry about it." He didn't want her to misunderstand what he was saying. He wants her to be here, and her clothes are more than welcome to join them as well.

She grinned over at him from behind the couch where she was looking for the elusive black panties, even though she knew he had already checked there. "Ok, I'll pack a bag and bring it over..." her voice trailed off like she was unsure of when they would see each other again.

"Tonight," he finished her sentence for her, "I was thinking we could go see a movie. You know, _in public_."

She bit her lip as she smiled at him. "Tonight." She walked over to where he was standing, "now I really have to go or I'm gonna be late." She gave him a quick peck on the lips and headed off to the bathroom to clean up and get dressed. He smiled, watching her go, and then turned his attention to the kitchen to have some cake for breakfast.

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A/N So much going on here, Rachel hating on Bass, their first date, and Bass is dealing with some guilt. Thanks for reading guys, and leave me a review if you have a second!


	8. Chapter 8

**June 8, 2030**

**Chicago, Illinois**

**Charlie Matheson's apartment**

**One month, one week, and four days since Miles death.**

Just a little over a month of being together and Bass already felt like they'd been together forever. Charlie had basically abandoned her small apartment in favor of his spacious house, her clothes had been slowly migrating from the drawer he had emptied for her and into his closet. Her shoe colllection, which was quite modest for a woman, now accompanied his in the hall closet by the front door. Hair products, make up, a tooothbrush, and even a box of tampons under the sink, Charlie had taken over his master bathroom as well.

It had been so long since he had felt this close to any woman that he had thought adjusting would be difficult, but Charlie had simply walked in and taken over the house like she had always been there. Like she belonged.

Bass wrapped his arm more fully around her from behind, his hand wandering up between her breasts to finger the silver 'M' around her neck. They had just finished eating dinner at a new Thai food restauraunt downtown, Bass had been in the process of driving them back to his place when Charlie had suggested they go to her place instead. It was closer, and, well, they were both eager to get behind closed doors. The sweat was still drying on their skin.

"Earlier, you said that the real estate agent had called, but I wasn't really listening," he kissed the back of her neck softly, "I was a little busy."

Charlie giggled and turned her head a little to move her hair out of his way. "She said that there were three more showings this week, but there still hasn't been a single offer." Bass could tell by the tone of her voice that she was worried.

"You know you don't need to worry about the money, I can help you with the house, Babe."

She sighed and relaxed against him. "I know you want to, you keep offering to help, but I don't want to owe you anything."

He rested his head on the back of her neck. "You won't owe me anything, I'm not giving you money for you, I'm doing it for Miles."

Charlie sat up abruptly and covered herself with the pale blue sheet on her bed. "My dad never let you give him money, so how can you tell me that it would be for him." She was getting worked up about it again, like she did everytime he brought up the idea of him giving her money.

The last time they had talked about Bass giving her money for the house, she had left and refused to answer her phone for two days. Eventually, he had simply gone to her apartment and refused to leave until she talked to him. They had finally agreed not to talk about the house again until they had no other choice, and then they sealed said deal by reuniting in the same bed that they were in now.

"Charlie, Miles wouldn't have wanted you to be stuck drowning in debt because of him. I think he would make an exception to his 'I don't take handouts' rule if it meant helping you." He was pleading with her, trying to make her understand that it wasn't about the money, it was about his friend.

But Charlie was so damn stubborn, just like her father, that the idea of taking money for _his_ house just wasn't an option. She climbed out of he bed and picked up a t-shirt off of the floor, throwing it over her head before turning to look at him with her arms crossed over her chest. But Bass could still see the USMC logo of Miles old shirt peaking out at him. That familiar guilt, of looking at his best friend's half-naked daughter dressed in his shirt, settled deep in his gut.

She frowned at him sadly. "I can't. I know that you just want to help, but my dad would never have taken your money, so I can't either."

A frustrated groan escaped his lips and he got out of the bed to pull his boxers on. All he wanted to do was help, and she was adament that that was not going to happen. "What is your problem? Who cares if you take some money fom me, it's just money, Charlie."

Her eyes grew big and he knew that he had hit a sore spot. "Maybe to you it's just money, but not to me. My dad worked his ass off to give me everything I had, even after I moved in with him and my mom had to give him child support money, he never spent it. When I started my first year of college he gave me that money, every cent. I won't disrespect him by taking your money now."

She stalked off into the bathroom and slammed the door behind her. Ten minutes ago they had been perfectly happy, sliding between the sheets together. Damn, things changed fast.

He understood where she was coming from, he really did, he had known Miles his entire life. The man hated charity, he hated accepting any kind of assistance with anything. A trait he had passed down to his daughter. Daughter. There was that gulit again.

But he was still aggrivated by her behavior. Miles had been his family too, and she was refusing to let him help. Not to mention the fact that she was acting like a child.

"Charlie, come on, let's just talk about it." He stood outside her bathroom door, wearing nothing but his boxers.

Silence. Not a sound came from the direction of the bathroom, which only served to anger him even more.

"Ok, that's great. Really mature, Charlie. You know what, this is ridiculous, I'm done. I can't put up with all your childish bullshit anymore." He grabbed his jeans from the floor and pulled them on, going in search of his shirt and shoes. The shoes were in the hallway, just outside her bedroom door, and he found his shirt lying on the couch by the front door.

In the bathroom, Charlie was trying to hold back silent tears while her heart ripped in two. Her shoulders were shaking as she stood in the cool room wearing nothing but her dad's old t-shirt. She heard Bass. He was angry and he was leaving. She knew she shouldn't be all that surprised, it wasn't like this hadn't happened to her before.

_**July 9, 2028**_

_**Charlie's boyfreind's apartment**_

_**Charlie is twenty years old.**_

_It was almost five o'clock, which meant that Jeff would be home from work soon. Home. She had moved in with him at the end of her junior year at the University of Chicago. They had been dating for over a year prior to that, so when the semester had neared its close, Jeff had asked her to move in. This was their home._

_His excuse had been that he didn't want to have to go to her dad's house just so he could see her, but she knew that it had more to do with the fact that getting laid would be easier without her father hanging around all the time._

_Jeff had graduated two years ago and was working for a shipping company as an accountant. Charlie picked up part-time shifts at a bar around the corner, which meant that she worked most nights, but tonight was her night off and she wanted to do something special._

_She had gone to the grocery store and picked up a few things for dinner. But before she did that she stopped at the mall to pick up some new black lace lingerie. She was so excited to show him that she was considering skipping the dinner all together._

_The front door opened to reveal a tired looking Jeff. "Hey Babe, guess what I've got for dinner?" But her excitement quickly dissipated when she saw the torn look on Jeff's face. Dropping the spoon she was holding, she walked over to him. "Jeff, what's wrong?" Charlie reached out to lay a hand on his chest, but he backed away and shook his head._

_"I'm sorry Charlie, but I can't do this anymore." He had turned his head away from her and was avoiding her eyes._

_"Can't do what? What are you talking about, Jeff?" But dread was already starting to set in over her confusion._

_Jeff took another step away from her before actually looking her in the face. "Listen, your a great girl, but... this just isn't working for me anymore. Actually, it hasn't been for a while."_

_Where was this coming from? Charlie thought that things between them were great, and he hadn't given any indication that he thought otherwise. Until now, of course._

_"So that's it? Just like that, you never even said anything was wrong?" Traitorous tears started forming in her eyes, and Jeff turned back to the front door._

_"I'm sorry. I'm gonna go to the gym, so uh... just lock the door when you leave." And that was it. He left, leaving Charlie in a puddle of tears while their special dinner burned on the stove._

_About an hour later, Charlie opened the door to her childhood home. The familiar smell of pizza and alcohol filling her nose, and the sounds of the sports channel filling her ears. Of course, Dad was a creature of habit, nothing here ever changed. _

_Miles was sitting in his favorite chair, watching the game from last night in slow motion. He hadn't even turned when the door opened. "Hey Bass, grab me another beer while your in there."_

_Same old Dad. Charlie went into the kitchen to grab a beer from the refridgerator and wordlessly handed it to her father. He took it slowly in is hand, his eyes leaving the TV only for a second._

_"Charlie?" He jumped up from his chair excitedly and enveloped her in a tight hug. Stepping away, her moved some of her hair from out of the way to study her face. "What are you doig here?" His eyes took in her own red rimmed ones, and then moved down to the duffel bag on the floor. Understanding crossed his face and he hugged her again, tighter this time, while he spoke into her hair._

_"It's alright, honey." Just those simple words sent her into another fit of tears. Miles moved them to the couch and he held her close while she cried, rubbing her back and wiping away her tears._

_After a while, Charlie sat up, rubbing her eyes and blowing her nose. She looked at her dad and watched as his face went from caring, loving father to pissed off, over protective Dad in half a second._

_"You want me to go kick his ass?" Laughter burst from deep in her chest at the serious, but still joking look on his face._

_"No, Daddy. I just want to forget it, forget him." _

_He nodded understandingly and gave her another hug. "I know, honey." He leaned back and grinned at her. "I could at least go key his car though. Oh, or I could get Bass and we could go to his work and just stand outside all day, we don't actually have to hurt him, he'd be scared enough by us just being outside. We could make him look like an idiot in front of all his friends at work."_

_He was joking, or at least she hoped he was, and trying to make her laugh. It worked too, she could feel the tightness in her chest starting to ease away. Jeff wouldn't disappear overnight, but her dad was always there for her, and that made everything easier._

**Present**

Bass yanked on his shoes and picked up his car keys off of the floor in the entryway, where he must have dropped them earlier in his haste to undress. His heart was thumping wildly in his chest, the anger, frustration, and disapointment causing his eyes to burn without his permission.

Hand on the door knob, he stopped, listening to see if Charlie would say something. Anything. But she didn't. He closed the door beind him and went straight to his car, starting the engine and driving home. He didn't look back.

From the safety of his own bedroom, the angry tears fell as he looked at the pile of Charlie's dirty clothes on the floor. His head kept telling him that this was for the best, he and Charlie could never have lasted anyway. She was too young, he was too old. And she was Miles' daughter. Yes, it was better this way. End it early on, before he got too attached.

Then why was his chest so constricted that it felt like he couldn't breath? Why did his house feel so empty without her in it? Maybe it was just his imagination, but suddenly the house felt darker. He felt darker. Like Charlie had been the ray of sunshine that finally lit up his lonely life. And now she was gone, because he had pushed her away.

* * *

A/N As I was writing this I decided to make it short and quick because, and I'm sure you will all agree, Charloe break-ups suck. Lol. :) Thanks for reading and review if you've got a sec!


	9. Chapter 9

A/N Ok, so we switch point of views between Charlie and Bass in this chapter a few times. I marked them so I hope you guys don't get confused. :-)

* * *

**June 28, 2030**

**Chicago, Illinois**

**Stonewall Security Firm, Bass' office**

**Two months and three days since Miles' death.**

Nineteen days. Nineteen days, seven hours, and roughly fifteen minutes. That's how long it had been since the last time he saw Charlie. When he left her apartment, he had been angry and hurt, and since that night, his heart constantly felt like it was sitting in his stomach. Not sleeping, barely eating, and in a constant zombie-like state. Even his co-workers had noticed his strange behavior, he could hear them whispering about him when he walked down the hallway.

Bass couldn't remember ever feeling so torn. When his parents and sisters died, Miles had been there for him thoughout the entire thing. Then when Miles died, Charlie had been there for him to lean on. But now with no Charlie and Miles' death still sitting fresh on his heart, he wasn't sure what to do with himself.

"Your doing it again." Jeremy Baker's voice broke him out of his internal hate-fest.

Feigning innocence, because he knew exactly what Jeremy was talking about, he asked, "doing what?"

Jeremy frowned at him, but looked more sympathetic than annoyed. "Staring at that picture," he pointed to the frame sitting on Bass' desk, "everytime I pass your office, you're either staring into space or looking at that picture."

Bass looked sadly at the frame on his desk. It was a picture of him and Miles, his arm around Miles' shoulders while a little Charlie hung off of Miles' other arm. The picture had been taken at the zoo, a nice lady with two kids had offered to take the picture while the three of them stood in front of the glass separating them from the tigers in the enclosure. He could remember Charlie's face at seeing them in the cage, she had been sad, thinking that the poor 'kitties', were locked in a cage. Miles had consoled her by saying that it was to keep the tigers safe, though Bass wondered if he actually meant keeping the people safe from the tigers.

"See, told you." Bass' head snapped back in Jeremy's direction and he smiled guiltily.

"Sorry, I just..." But what exactly, he wasn't sure. He absolutely missed Miles, but he was starting to think that he actually missed Charlie more. Everything he did reminded him of her. Brush his teeth, there's her toothbrush still sitting on his counter. Do some laundry, oh look, one of her bras. Charlie was everywhere in his house, but no where at the same time, which left his heart twice as heavy and his head twice as confused.

"I know you miss him... I do too." Jeremy had obviously misread why, exactly, he was upset, but Bass wasn't about to correct him. "Actually I've been thinking that we should all do something together, you know, like in honor of Miles."

Bass smiled at him, Jeremy was no Miles, but he was a great friend none the less. "Yeah, sounds good. Any ideas?"

"Poker night," Jeremy grinned like a kid in a candy store. "Me, you, Ben, and Aaron. Oh, and lots of whiskey."

Bass couldn't help but smile, Miles' perfect tribute, poker and whiskey. "Definately, we can do it at my place, Charlie gave me the poker table when we cleared out the house."

"Oh, we should invite Charlie, too." Jeremy looked particularly happy with himself for having thought of it, but Bass' stomach dropped, if possible, even lower. "She should be there with us, I mean, he was her dad."

Bass nodded slowly. "Yeah man, great idea."

"Alright, tomorrow night. I'll call everybody else, but you should call Charlie," Bass looked up at him in shock, thinking that he couldn't possibly know anything about the two of them. But Jeremy merely rolled his eyes, "I just mean that she'll probably take it better from you. Plus, I don't do well with crying."

He snorted, knowing that Jeremy was right. "Ok, I'll call her."

"Great, I'll bring the snacks. See you tomorrow." Jeremy gave him a big smile as he left his office, and as soon as he was out of sight Bass slumped back into his chair with a groan.

Nineteen days since he last spoke to Charlie, and now he had to call and invite her to poker night, at his house, in Miles' honor. To say that he wasn't looking forward to it, would be the understatement of the century.

**The next day**

Ultimately, he had chickened out. He hadn't called her to tell her about the game, he sent her a text to invite her. A part of Bass had even expected her to ignore the message just because it was from him, but she had texted him back not much later saying that she wouldn't miss it.

Wouldn't miss the game or him?

That was one of the many, many, thoughts filling his head as he moved the coffee table from the center of his living room in order to make way for the poker table. Jeremy was already in the kitchen putting chips in bowls and setting out plates for the pizza Ben was bringing. Aaron would be providing the alcohol for the evening, because he was a billionaire and could afford shit like that.

All too soon, the front door opened and Aaron came into the house with Priscilla at his heels, each of them carrying various bottles of alcohol. She waved and smiled as they headed into the kitchen and Bass went to close the front door behind them, but was stopped by Ben coming into the house carrying pizza boxes. Bass tried to shut the door again, but had to wait because Charlie was coming up to the door carrying what looked like a tray of cookies.

She was dressed in simple jeans and a t-shirt, her usual after-hours Converse on her feet. God, she was beautiful. Twenty days apart and the mere sight of her nearly had him on his knees.

"Hey, Bass." Her voice was soft as she slipped past him and headed straight for the kitchen. He had to hold back a groan as her shoulder brushed against his chest and closed his eyes, praying to the gods to just let him get through this one night.

He followed her to where everyone was congregated in the kitchen. Charlie was hugging Jeremy and Ben was chatting with Aaron about some nerd project he was working on. Priscilla came over to him and gave him a hug.

"I'm going over to Ben and Rachel's to have a girls night, but I'll be back to pick them up around eleven," she pointed at Aaron and Charlie, "tomorrow may be Saturday, but we have a lot of work to do. So do me a favor and don't let them get too drunk." They both laughed and he walked her to the door.

"I make no promises." She laughed as she walked down the driveway and he shut the door behind her.

He turned around to find Jeremy already nice and comfortable with a slice of pizza in his hand and his feet propped up on the table. "What's it gonna take to get some service around here, where's the booze?"

Ben and Aaron came into the room each of them carrying two empty glasses, Aaron gave one to Jeremy and Ben gave him one, Charlie came trailing behind them with her own glass and a plate piled high with pizza. The boys took their regular seats at the table, Bass sat with Ben on his left and Jeremy on his right, Aaron sat on Jeremy's other side, which left the only empty seat between Ben and Aaron.

Charlie didn't sit down, she looked at the empty space at the table. That was where Miles always sat. The boys wouldn't let Bass and Miles sit next to each other because they were afraid they might cheat, which was stupid because they could talk to each other with just a look and they always ended up cheating anyways.

Before Charlie sat down, she filled everybody's glass with a good amount of whiskey and then held hers up silently in a toast. They all followed suit and downed the first glass all in one. She refilled their glasses and sat down while Jeremy started shuffling the deck.

"Well on the bright side," Aaron's voice was full of mock cheerfulness, "at least we don't have to worry about the wonder twins cheating anymore."

"Hey, we never cheated, you guys just suck at poker!" They were all trying to hide their smiles behind their hands at his defensive tone. Finally, Charlie couldn't hold it in anymore and snorted loudly.

"Whatever, my dad even told me you guys cheated. He said you had a system set up for it and everything."

Bass gaped at her. "He told you that?"

"Yup." She let the P, pop as it passed through her lips and she took another sip of her drink casually, like Miles had told her those sorts of things everyday.

He sat back in his seat scowling. He and Miles had been using the same system to cheat ever since Mr. Matheson had sat them down and taught them to play when they were eleven years old. He couldn't believe Miles told Charlie about it. Then again, maybe it wasn't so hard to believe, the two of them had been the closest father and daughter he had ever seen.

While his mind had been wandering, Jeremy had already dealt the cards and the game was started. They never actually played for money, it was just fun to play and have each other's company. As time wore on, Bass was nearly out of chips while Jeremy's pile had been growing significantly. Ben had always been terrible at poker, so it wasn't surprising that he had barely any left. Aaron and Charlie were both doing better than he was, and he felt stupid for letting his internal rambling get in the way of the game. Miles would have been so disappointed in him. He took poker very seriously, of course.

The group had finally finished catching up on all things boring and had lapsed into a comfortable silence, the only time they spoke was to place their bets or fold. Bass had to keep reminding himself not to look at Charlie, he was the one that ended it, so he had no right to look at her. Plus, she had been avoiding looking at him all night, so she clearly didn't want to see him.

When he finally worked up the courage to look at her, it was to find her blue eyes staring back at him. She seemed startled that he had looked up so suddenly and looked away from him, a slight blush rising on her cheeks. Seeing her blush like that made his heart beat speed up and all of a sudden, all he could think about was grabbing her and pounding her into the table. Forget poker, forget Aaron and Jeremy, hell, forget her uncle that was sitting right next to him. In that moment, Charlie was all he wanted.

Bass shook his head and cleared his throat, trying to clear his head so he could finish out the game with at least some of his dignity left.

OpOpOpOpOp

Charlie was embarassed that Bass had caught her staring. The man hadn't looked at her the entire night, so she hadn't been expecting it when his eyes finally turned her way.

She missed him, oh, how she missed him. Curly, blonde hair and clear, blue eyes. His toned body pressed up against hers and his insanely intoxicating scent, a mixture of whiskey and Bass. All she wanted to do was force the boys out the front door and drag him into the bedroom to have her way with him.

But she knew that was never going to happen again. She could still hear the anger in his voice when he left _'I can't put up with all of your childish bullshit anymore.'_ That's what he thought of her, a child, she ruined her chance and now she would just have to live with it.

The game was coming to a close, Jeremy was clearly going to win, and she knew that she needed to get the news out before she lost her chance. She didn't want to have to tell Bass with no one else around, she didn't think she could handle anymore of his condescension or disappointment.

"I got an offer on the house." Everyone's eyes were on her, the boys' expressions ranged from shocked, to relieved, to hurt. Bass was obviously the hurt one.

"Yeah, and I accepted it. I'm supposed to go and sign the paperwork tomorrow." Charlie gave them all a minute for the news to sink in, everyone except for Bass seemed to be handling it pretty well. He had shut his eyes and turned his head away from her, as if he couldn't bear the sight of her.

"I'm glad everything worked out, kid. Now you don't have to worry about it anymore and you can really move on." Uncle Ben patted her arm and gave her a warm smile before throwing his cards down on the table. "Well, I'm out. I gotta piss," he looked down at Charlie, "I meant pee, don't tell your mom I said that, she likes to pretend like you're still five."

She chuckled, shaking her head as her uncle made his way to the bathroom, swaying as he went.

"He's right, Charlie." She looked up to find Bass staring at her intently. "Your dad would be happy, he never wanted you to have to carry that kind of burden for him." She couldn't tell if he was still mad at her or if he genuinely meant it, so she avoided the entire conversation by placing her bet.

Uncle Ben came back into the living room and plopped down on the couch with a groan. "God, I don't think I've drank this much since Miles threw me that party after Charlie moved in with him."

They all chuckled at him while he started searching his pockets. "Hey, you guys seen my phone?"

"Check down in the couch, it has a tendancy to eat things." Bass laughed his own little joke and then groaned as Aaron took the last of his chips.

Ben reached down in between the couch cushions and pulled out a pair of black lace panties with a look of surprise on his face. Charlie felt her eyes go wide and snapped her head over to look at Bass who was wearing an equally horrified expression. They were her missing black panties from the night of their first date.

Ben tossed them onto the seat next to him. "Gross. Now I need to go wash my hands again." He got up and waddled back to the bathroom while Jeremy and Aaron roared with laughter.

When they fially calmed down, Aaron wiped the tears from his eyes and Jeremy punched Bass' shoulder. "Black lace, that's nice man."

Charlie had to focus really hard on the opposite wall to keep her face from going brick red as her uncle came back into the room, nodding in agreement. "Yeah, gotta love a classy girl."

She couldn't help it. Charlie groaned loudly and smacked a hand to her forehead. Her uncle just said that he liked her underwear because it was classy. Gross.

Ben misunderstood her dilema, thinking that she thought he was refering to her mother. "Oh come on, Charlie. I hope you didn't think your brother just fell out of the sky."

Her mom and Uncle Ben, black lace, Danny. The images running through her mind were too much. "I think I'm gonna be sick. Change the suject, please."

The boys all laughed, but Jeremy happily obliged. "Bass, I didn't even know you were seeing anyone. Were you ever planning on telling anybody?"

She saw Bass' eyes shift slightly in her direction before moving back to Jeremy. "I'm not seeing anyone... we broke things off."

"We? Or did _you_ break things off," Ben's voice came from over on the couch.

Bass sighed before admitting, "I did. But it was for the best, for both of us."

Ben looked at him carefully, "wait, you actually liked this girl." Bass didn't answer, but his blush was more than enough of an answer. "Then why did you break it off?"

"I ended it because the relationship wasn't right for either of us."

"Right..." Ben's voice trailed off like he didn't really believe him and Bass was starting to get defensive.

"What is that supposed to mean? It's the truth."

Ben held up his hands in mock surrender. "Alright, alright, I'm just saying that you do this all the time. You go out with a girl but as soon as she gets too close, you push her away. Don't you think it's time to move forward with your life? Your not getting any younger Bass." His statement was met with a stony silence. Charlie was trying to keep her head down while also being interested in what Bass' response might be. Aaron and Jeremy were keeping quiet in order to see how the conversation was going to play out.

When it became clear that Bass wasn't going to say anything else on the suject the room fell into an awkward silence, broken only by the shuffling of the cards. Aaron and Charlie finally lost all of their chips, making Jeremy a winner for the first time since he had joined her father's poker nights.

As they all congratulated him, Priscilla texted Aaron to tell him that she was outside. Charlie hugged Ben and Jeremy goodbye and gave Bass a tight smile and an awkward, one-armed hug on her way out of the house. She hurried to the car, and hopped in the backseat, breathing easily for the first time in what felt like hours while she tried to hide the moisture in her eyes.

OpOpOpOpOp

Bass helped Jeremy into his girlfriend's car when she came to get him and went back inside, breathing a sigh of relief now that the night was over. It hadn't been that bad up until Ben found those panties. He cursed his stupid couch and its habit of eating people's belongings.

"Sorry about earlier." Ben's voice made him jump, he had forgotten that he was still here.

"Don't worry about it." He moved to go around Ben, but he put a hand on his arm to stop him.

"Hey, listen, I'm just trying to help. Look... Miles always worried about you and now that he's gone, I guess it's my job now. I know it's been a long time since Shelly, but it's time to move on. Miles would want you to be happy."

_**March 13, 2014**_

_**Miles Matheson's house**_

_**Charlie is six years old.**_

_"Two years, and that's it... no note. Nothing. She's just gone." Bass' voice was full of heartbreak._

_"Are you sure she left? Maybe she had a family emergency or something, maybe she'll come back." Miles took another sip of his beer as he watched his best friend, slumped in a chair on the back porch while Charlie played in the yard._

_"No. All her stuff is gone, she's not coming back." Bass' voice broke as he choked on his words, Miles patted his back awkwardly._

_"Hang on, I'll get you another beer." As Miles disappeared thought the sliding glass door, Charlie came bounding up the steps and ran full out straight into him. Out of instinct, he caught her easily and she sat happily on his lap. But she frowned when she noticed his tears._

_"Why are you sad, 'Bastian?"_

_He couldn't help but smile as he looked at her big, blue eyes, so full of the innocense only a child could have. "Everybody leaves me." The words left his mouth before he could stop them, that wasn't really the kind of thing you tell a six year old. But she merely smiled up at him and flung her arms around his neck._

_"I'll never leave you, I promise." The matter of fact tone in her voice brought tears to his eyes and he wrapped his arms around the little girl. She was really something else._

_"Thank you, Charlotte." She leaned back with a big smile on her face. "Guess what? I found a spider, you wanna come see?" Miles had come back out of the house with more beers in hand in time to hear their conversation, and laughed at the terrified look on his friends face._

_"No honey, leave Bass alone, go play." Little Charlie rolled her eyes at her father but took off running all the same. Bass watched her go, marvelling at how the simple words of a six year old could ease the pain in his chest._

_"Well," Miles laughed, "at least you know you'll always have Charlie." Bass joined him in laughing._

_"Yeah, well at this rate, I'll probably still be single by the time she's old enough to date." They both laughed even harder before Miles punched his shoulder._

_"Keep your hands off of my daughter."_

_Bass chuckled, gesturing in Charlie's direction. "Oh please, look at her. I bet she's gonna be hot as hell, and I'm gonna be the least of your worries."_

_Miles groaned and leaned back in his chair, which only made Bass laugh even harder. Teasing Miles always made him feel better. Their laughter faded away and the two men sat in comfortable silence sipping their drinks. As the sky darkened, Miles broke the silence._

_"You'll find her Bass, and I don't mean Shelly. Somewhere out there is your perfect girl, and you'll find her eventually." Bass turned to his best friend, his brother._

_"Yeah, and what about you?" _

_Miles merely shrugged, "I don't need one. I've got Charlie." They both watched her as she carried a jar, likely full of spiders, towards the tree and sat down to study them. "But I guess until you find your girl we can share Charlie, it's not like we haven't shared everything else."_

_Bass chuckled, never taking his eyes off of the little girl in question. "She is one amazing kid. I honestly don't understand how she could be related to you."_

_To his surprise, Miles nodded in agreement. "She's more than I deserve, that's for sure. I guess I just got lucky."_

_They lapsed into silence again, Bass thinking that he felt just as lucky to have that little girl in his life._

**Present**

Ben gave him one last pat on the back as Rachel pulled up, Bass waved politely to Charlie's mother and rolled his eyes at the glare she sent him.

With Ben's words on his mind and that long lost memory fresh in his brain, Bass suddenly realized how incredibly stupid he'd been. Of course Miles would want him to be happy. Would he like that Charlie was the one that did that? Probably not. But the more that Bass thougth about it, the clearer it became, that Miles would have dealt with it if it meant that he and Charlie were happy. Miles would have adapted, he was a soldier, that's what soldiers do.

Bass' heart was thumping wildly in his chest at the realization. He should never had said those things, Charlie wasn't just Miles' daughter. She was a beautiful woman, her own person, who for some insane reason had feelings for him. Him.

Then reality sunk in. She had feelings for him before, but now? He had ruined everything, and the worst part was, Ben had been right. Charlie had gotten too close, and he let his fear push her away, using Miles as an excuse.

He climbed into his bed, thinking that none of it mattered anyway. He blew it. Now that he had finally realized just how much she actually meant to him, it was too late, Charlie didn't want anything to do with him anymore.

* * *

A/N I know... no Charloe reunion, YET. I wanted to do a Bass and Miles flashback, and then had to add Charlie in there because she's just to darn cute. :-) Thanks for reading and leave me a review if you have a minute!


	10. Chapter 10

A/N I finished this up nice and quick so that banneg, and all of you that are stuck inside because of the snow could have something to do. :-) And now that it's done, I'm going to go outside, because it's like 55 degrees at my house and the sun is shining, lol. Enjoy! And remember reviews are welcome and very much appreciated.

* * *

**July 26, 2030**

**Chicago, Illinois**

**Pittman Digital**

**Three months and one day since Miles death.**

Charlie's life had quickly become boring and predictable. She went to work, socialized enough to keep Alex off her back, went home, ate, slept, and then got up the next day to do it all over again. She tried to forget Bass, but it wasn't like he was just another ex-boyfriend. The man had been a fixture in her life for as long as she could remember and now he was gone. And it was her fault.

Her dad had always taught her to be independent, stubbornly so, but at the same time, he had always been there for her. No matter what it was, she could always count on Dad to be there, because he was family, and that's what families do.

Bass was family too, and even thinking about what she had put him through made her heart hurt. She had refused to let him help his brother, she had sold his brother's house, and had taken away the only family he had left- herself- all in one.

God, she was so stupid. And Bass was right, she had acted like a child having a temper tantrum over her favorite toy. It was her fault that Bass hated her.

Poker night had been awful. Bass had refused to even look at her, and even when he had, all she could see was hurt in his eyes. When the boys had asked about his 'mystery girl', Bass had claimed that he broke up with her because it was better for them both.

Charlie wondered vaguely if he meant that, if he really believed that they were better off apart. Well, if he did, then he should take a better look, because she most definitely wasn't better. Most nights, she'd lay awake thinking about him, wondering what he was doing, or God forbid, who he was doing it with. Even the thought of Bass, her Bass, with another woman made her stomach churn uncomfortably and her eyes sting.

When had she become the lovesick girl that sat at home in front of the TV watching old romance movies with a tub of ice cream?

She hated what Bass did to her, the mere memory of his hands worshipping her every curve sent her into hormonal overdrive and she would rub herself raw while she imagined his cock buried deep inside of her. Laying in her bed, panting, with a hand down her pants, she would smile, right before she remembered why it was her own hand, and not his.

So yes, heartbroken and miserable was the new Charlie Matheson. She covered it up as best as she could, but wasn't all that surprised when Alex started asking questions.

"You ever gonna tell me what his name is?" Alex's voice coming from across the room brought Charlie back down to Earth.

"What do you mean?" She busied herself with some papers in order to avoid making eye contact.

Alex got up from her desk and went over to sit on the edge of Charlie's desk. "Obviously, something happened, and judging by the way you're refusing to look at me, I'd say I'm right in thinking it's because of a man."

Charlie sighed and looked up at her best friend, she could see the concern in Alex's eyes, and suddenly found herself spilling everything that she had been holding in for the past few weeks. "Bass and I were together and everything was great and we were happy, and then we got into a fight because I didn't want to take his money, and he got really mad and told me to stop acting like a child and then he left," she stopped to take a deep breath, "and we didn't talk to each other for like three weeks, and I thought I was over it, but then we had that stupid poker game and he just kept looking at me with those sad eyes, like me selling my dad's house was nothing short of suddenly joining Al-Qaeda." Charlie stopped and slapped her hands over her face, trying to conceal the tears that were threatening to spill out.

Alex stared at her best friend in shock. Charlie wasn't the type of person to get worked up about anything, but she clearly wasn't handling this breakup very well and it kind of worried her. How could one guy- wait... did she say, Bass?

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Bass? As in Bass, Bass? Like your dad's BFF Bass?" Alex's eyes were huge while her mouth formed a comical 'O'.

Charlie was still trying to get her emotions under control, but ever since her dad died, that seemed practically impossible. She looked up at her friend and answered softly, "yeah."

Alex nearly jumped off of the desk, "oh my God, I knew it! I knew it, I knew it. How long has this been going on? Why didn't you tell me, I'm supposed to be your best friend, you have to tell me this stuff." She was nearly jumping with excitement while she chastised Charlie for her secrecy, and Charlie was even more confused now than she had been five minutes ago.

"What do you mean,_ you knew?_"

Alex finally stopped jumping to frown at her. "Well, I mean it was pretty obvious," when Charlie didn't seem to catch on, Alex continued, "I may not know Bass very well, but I know enough to know that he likes you, and that you've been oblivious about it. Or at least I thought you were. When did that change?"

Her friends nonchalant attitude was throwing her off. What did she mean that she knew Bass liked her? Since when? And how did she know? Charlie sat quietly for a moment, trying to let all of that information sink in.

Alex didn't break her concentration, she seemed to realize that Charlie needed a minute to process her thoughts, so she waited patiently for her to answer her questions.

"After my dad died, we just kinda... I don't know, it just... clicked." Charlie even shocked herself with the honestly of her statement.

"So what now?"

Charlie raised her eyebrows in question. "What do you mean?"

Alex rolled her eyes at her best friend's stupidity. "Well you obviously really care about him, so why are you sitting around moping when you could be with him?"

"I told you, he doesn't want anything to do with me." Charlie could hear the defeat in her own voice, and it sounded pathetic, even to her.

"Oh shut up. Bass has been in love with you since... well, as long as I've known him. There's no way he would let something as stupid as an argument about money get in the way." Alex stopped to look thoughtful for a second. "Why were you fighting about money anyway? That's what people do when they're in a relationship, they share the burden. That includes monetarily." She was looking at Charlie like she was the dumbest person on the planet.

Unable to handle knowing how much she had really screwed up, Charlie put her head in her hands. "I know. You're right, I just... I didn't know what to do. I already felt weird about dating my dad's best friend, I didn't want to take his money too."

Alex moved around the desk and rubbed her back comfortingly, the two women sat in silence for a while before Alex finally spoke up again. "Maybe you should talk to him. I'm not saying you have to declare your undying love for him or whatever, but you at least need to try. If not for your sake, do it for mine. I can only handle so much self-pity."

Despite her uncontrollable emotions, Charlie chuckled. She sat back in her chair to look at Alex, nodding and squeezing her hand in thanks because she wasn't sure if her voice could handle anymore at the moment. As Alex made her way back to her own desk, Charlie yawned which made Alex laugh.

"Ok, you really need to go make up with your boyfriend, because I'm sick of you being moody and tired all the time." They both laughed as she sat down and Charlie turned her attention to a memo on her desk, feeling a million times better than she had twenty minutes ago.

_All the time._

Charlie's heart rate kicked into overdrive. She was tired all the time, and she had been moody, but then again, he dad just died and then she went through the worst breakup she had ever had. She couldn't be... could she?

Charlie whipped out her phone, pulling up the calendar where she kept track of her monthly cycle. She was late. Like really, really late. How had she not noticed? She took a few deep breaths to try and calm herself. Being late didn't necessarily mean she was pregnant. Stress could have caused her cycle to be off, and everyone knew that she had had plenty of that lately.

Then again... now that she thought about, she and Bass hadn't exactly been careful. She wasn't on the pill and they had never used any kind of protection. Actually, now that she thought about, what the hell was wrong with her? How many times had they had unprotected sex and he didn't even pull out? And she never even considered that she could get pregnant?

Charlie jumped up from her desk like it was on fire, grabbing her bag and running to the elevator, not even bothering to explain where she was going as Alex called after her.

Oh God, she was pregnant. What would she do with a baby?

Oh God, what would Bass say?

_**April 3, 2024**_

_**Miles Matheson's house**_

_**Charlie is sixteen years old.**_

_"Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God." Lauren sat rocking back and forth on Charlie's bed. "Oh my God."_

_"Seriously, if you don't shut up I'm gonna kill you," Charlie hissed at her best friend._

_Lauren looked up at her with wide eyes. "Oh my God."_

_Charlie threw her hands up in the air in frustration and peeked out her bedroom door to make sure that her dad wasn't home yet. "You have to be quiet, my dad could be home any minute and if he finds out... well, you'll probably have to come visit me in a cemetery."_

_Lauren nodded jerkily. "You can't be. I mean, I'm too young to be the coolest aunt ever, so you can't be pregnant. You just can't."_

_"Shhhh!" Charlie waved her hands frantically in front of Lauren's face, as if saying the word out loud could make it any worse. They both froze as the timer on Charlie's cell phone beeped, indicating that the three minutes was up. _

_Staring at the little white stick sitting on Charlie's dresser, Lauren asked, "aren't you gonna look at it?"_

_Slowly, like everything was suddenly in slow motion, Charlie approached the dresser. She squinted her eyes shut, praying that if she was granted a pass on this one thing, that she would apologize for every other bad thing she had ever done. Borrowing Dad's car without him knowing, taking twenty dollars out of Uncle Ben's wallet, forking Bass' yard with the softball team, cheating on her chemistry test, all of it. She picked up the small stick carefully, like it was a bomb ready to blow, and looked down at the little screen._

_A little blue negative sign stared back at her._

_"Oh my God," Charlie nearly cried as the relief washed over her, "I'm not pregnant!"_

_Lauren squealed and jumped off of the bed, hugging her best friend so tightly that she couldn't breath. The two girls reveled in the victory, smiling from ear to ear as another challenge came and went. Then the front door opened._

_"Charlie? You home?" Her dad's voice floated through the house causing panic to rise in Charlie's chest. She quickly stashed the pregnancy test between the mattress and box spring of her bed, then sat down, grabbed her backpack, and yanked her math book from its depths._

_"Yeah, in my room!" She called out, hoping with everything that she had that her voice sounded somewhat normal. She motioned for Lauren to sit down on the bed, her friend was a little slow on the uptake, and she did, pulling out her own math book as well._

_Miles opened the door to his daughter's bedroom. "Hey honey," he looked from Charlie to Lauren, "hey Lauren, what are you guys doing?"_

_Charlie smiled nice and big for her father. "Algebra. Wanna help?"_

_Her dad took one look at the books sitting in their laps and laughed. "No, I want you to actually pass math, Charlie." All three of them laughed at that, nervously for Charlie and Lauren. "I'm gonna order some Chinese food for dinner, you stickin' around Lauren?"_

_"Uh yeah, if that's cool with you."_

_Miles shrugged his shoulders. "Fine with me, just don't tell your mom I gave you take-out again. Last time she left me like three voice mails telling me that I'm a 'bad parent for not cooking family meals'." He made a face and imitated Lauren's mom's voice which actually sounded a lot like her, making the girls laugh so hard that they cried._

_Miles left them to it, knowing that he'd be useless against whatever homework that teachers decided to give out these days. Hell, he hadn't even been able to keep up when he was in high school. This was one of those rare occasions where he was extremely thankful that Charlie had inherited her mother's brains._

_Once the door was shut and her dad was gone, Charlie wiped the tears out of her eyes from all the laughing and took a deep breath. She wasn't pregnant, and man, was she thankful._

**Present**

Charlie paced the bedroom of her tiny apartment. Her phone sat on the dresser with the timer running, next to the pregnancy test she had bought on her way home from work after rushing out of the office.

Pregnant. Fear was closing in on all fronts. She didn't know how to take care of a baby, her mom would be beside herself with rage, and she could just picture the look of disappointment on her dad's face.

What about Bass? He'd probably be angry, he was still mad at her anyway, so this would probably just make it worse, and then she would never get the chance to tell him how she really felt. She wanted him, she wanted _them_, but a baby was too much. A tiny part of her brain, way in the back, wondered if he would blame her for getting pregnant on purpose. What if he thought that she did it to try and trap him in a relationship with her?

Just that though made her feel nauseous. As much as she cared for Bass, she didn't want their relationship to be out of obligation. She wanted him to want her, like she wanted him.

The timer started beeping. Charlie walked over and turned it off, picking up the test in her hand. She closed her eyes and said another silent prayer, similar to the one she had said six years ago, except this time, she was apologizing for not spending more time with her dad before he died, and letting her pride get in the way of her and Bass' relationship. Opening her eyes, she looked at the tiny screen.

Negative.

Waves of relief crashed down on her and Charlie found herself sinking to the floor in front of her dresser. Tears of relief, happiness, and frustration spilling out of her. She sat there for a while, letting the reality sink in. Her body had been under a lot of stress the past three months, the fact that she had missed her period was totally acceptable. Mood swings could be explained away by her father's recent death, and the fatigue due to the fact that she was now trying to get used to sleeping alone again.

No, she wasn't pregnant with Bass' child.

She should be ecstatic.

So why was there a part of her that was so upset?


	11. Chapter 11

A/N Thank you everyone for sticking with me through this story! And to show my appreciation, here is your promised Charloe reunion. :-)

* * *

**July 31, 2030**

**Chicago, Illinois**

**Bass Monroe's house**

**Three months and six days since Miles death.**

It was late in the evening when Bass finally opened his front door. He had been taking on extra projects and working late to try and keep his mind off of a certain blonde woman that he couldn't seem to stop thinking about. Suffice to say that it wasn't working.

He sat his briefcase and jacket down on the counter in the dark kitchen and turned toward the fridge when something fell on the floor. Bass figured he must have dropped something out of his jacket pocket and bent down to pick up whatever it was. But he was pretty sure that the white plastic stick laying on his kitchen floor didn't belong to him.

Bass picked up the stick, turning it over in his hands and nearly dropped it in shock when he saw the little blue negative sign staring back at him. A pregnancy test? Where the hell did that come from?

His senses immediately went on high alert. He hadn't put that there, which meant that someone else had, which meant that someone had been in his house, and possibly still was.

"Hey."

Bass froze. He knew that voice, had been dreaming about it for weeks, and hoping for a chance just to see the woman that it belonged to again. Turning around slowly, he took in Charlie's appearance. Simple jeans, plain t-shirt, with her hair pulled up in a messy ponytail. She had never looked so beautiful.

"Hey," he finally managed to squeak out.

Charlie bit her lip nervously. "Sorry, I kinda let myself in. I hope that's ok."

Bass was worried that if he tried to speak he might scare her away, or worse, realize that he was just hallucinating. So he nodded his head while he continued to stare. They stood staring at each other awkwardly for a few minutes. Bass was afraid to ruin any chance he might have and Charlie was debating whether or not she should just leave.

Finally, Bass realized that he was still holding the pregnancy test. He held it up and looked at her questioningly.

"I took it a few days ago," and then she bit her lip again, like she was trying to make a decision. "I uh... just thought I should tell you." Charlie bowed her heard and made like she was going to leave, which slapped Bass out of his silent shock.

"Wait," he hated how desperate he sounded, "where are you going?"

Charlie refused to turn around. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have come here. I'll just leave you alone."

"No!" They both heard the panic in Bass' voice. The thought of being alone again sent his mind to places he didn't want to follow. "You should stay... we could have dinner, or whatever." It was a pathetic attempt, but Charlie didn't seem to mind. She smiled at him softly and nodded her head, pulling out a chair at the table and sitting down.

They looked at each other for a while, taking in all of the little changes that they're weeks apart had caused. Bass had heavy bags under his eyes and his shoulders seemed to be permanently slumped. Charlie was rather pale, and looked just as tired as he did.

After a while, Charlie finally found the courage to break the silence. "Bass, I owe you an apology-"

"No you don't, Charlie. It's fine-"

"It's not fine!" Charlie passed a hand over her eyes to try and calm herself down. "Please, just let me finish." She waited for him to nod before finally giving the speech she had been practicing for days.

"You were right. I was being childish. I was so confused about how I felt about you and what my dad would think about us, that I let my fear get in the way. And I'm sorry, I know it's too late now, but I wish I would've just let you help me with the house. I took away the last thing that you could do for your brother and you have to know how sorry I am." By that point Charlie had stood up and moved to stand in front of him. "I understand that you're mad at me, I just need you to know that I never wanted to hurt you. And I'll do whatever it takes to make it up to you, I just want you to be happy."

Bass stared at the woman before him, wondering how in the hell he had gotten so lucky. Smart, kind, passionate, she was everything that any man could ever ask for. And she was his.

He cupped her face in his hands. "I'm not mad at you, Charlie. I was, but then I realized that loosing the woman I loved because of a stupid house wasn't worth it. I was just too much of a chicken to admit it."

Charlie's eyes went wide as she stared into his face. "You love-"

"God yes, Charlie. I don't deserve you, but I love you." Bass' lips crashed down on hers and his hands went straight to her hips, pulling them flush against each other. Charlie immediately wrapped her arms around his neck and threaded her fingers into his curls. Their tongues rushed out to meet each other and they twisted and turned in their haste to reacquaint themselves with one another.

Bass reached lower to grab a handful of her perfect ass, loving the way Charlie felt in his arms. She moaned into his mouth when he reached down with his other hand and squeezed both cheeks with a growl. He wanted her, right then and there. So he pulled away from her long enough to locate the center island in his kitchen and set her on top of it, only to reattach their lips moments later.

Charlie ran her hands over his broad chest, loving the feel of him under her hands and the way he groaned at her touch. She wanted him, right there on that counter. So she pulled away from him, ignoring his whine of protest that turned into a groan when she ripped her shirt over her head, and pulled his lips back to hers as his hands found her bra covered breasts.

Bass, having never been a patient man, quickly undid the clasps and nearly tore the garment in his hurry to get it off of her. His hands found her breasts, perky, and full, and perfect in his hands. He kneaded them roughly, causing Charlie to throw her head back and moan loudly. Happy with his success, Bass attached his lips to her neck, licking up to her ear and nibbling the tender flesh before moving lower to suck on a point just above her collarbone.

Her fingers were clenched tightly in his curls, pulling his face closer and holding him there so he wouldn't stop. She pulled at the back of his shirt and he reluctantly pulled away to yank it over his head. Now bare from the waist up, their lips found each other again. Charlie scraped her nails down his back and Bass dug his fingers into her soft hips, no doubt hard enough to leave bruises in the morning.

He pulled her butt to the edge of the counter so she could feel his erection rubbing against her core. Charlie fumbled with the button on his pants for a second before reaching into his boxers and relishing the feel of his hard cock in her hand. Bass hissed against her lips and went for the button of her jeans, wasting no time, she leaned back and lifted her hips so he could pulled them off along with her underwear.

Bass kissed her deeply while his fingers spread her slick folds and she moaned when his thumb grazed her clit, and she thrust her hips against his hand. Finding her nice and wet for him, Bass pushed his pants down and let them fall around his ankles before he placed his throbbing cock at her entrance.

Charlie tried to tilt her hips in order to push him inside of her, but Bass cupped the back of her head in his hand and brought their faces close together. His usually blue eyes were black with desire, but he was waiting for her. She leaned into him and kissed him softly on the lips, gently slipping her tongue into his mouth and kissing him with everything she had. She wanted him, and he needed to know that.

He seemed to understand, releasing his hold on her head, he kissed her back, and then stopped to look at her before slamming home. They both moaned with pleasure as he filled her completely, after being apart for so long, Charlie's body needed a second to readjust to his size. They kissed deeply before Bass started moving, slowly at first, enjoying the feel of her tightness wrapped around him, but his need for release took over and soon he was fucking her fast and hard on his kitchen counter. Charlie dug her nails into his shoulders, needing to feel Bass under her fingertips and know that it was real. That they were real.

Bass' thrusts were becoming erratic as he neared his breaking point. Charlie knew he was close, so she reached down between them to rub her clit in hard, little circles. She watched Bass, watching her touch herself and the wild look in his eyes had her coming in seconds. Crying his name out to the ceiling while her walls clamped down around his cock. He continued to thrust into her, riding out her orgasm and pulling out at the last second to spill his come all over her thighs, calling her name.

Charlie slumped back onto her elbows and Bass leaned forward, resting his head just above her breasts. They stayed that way for a while, catching their breath. Eventually, Charlie said, "you pulled out."

He nodded against her chest and kissed her neck before sitting up to look at her face. "I didn't want you to have to worry about a baby again. I should have been more careful to begin with, you're so young... I know you don't want a baby right now."

"But you do." Bass could hear the question in her voice.

"I won't lie to you, I've always wanted kids, but if you don't want children, I'm alright with just having you." He leaned up to kiss her gently on the lips. When he pulled away and looked into her eyes, he was shocked by the tears falling down her cheeks. Afraid that he had said something wrong, or worse, hurt her during their make up session, he pulled her up into a sitting position and hugged her to his chest.

"Baby, what's wrong? Did I hurt you?"

Charlie buried her face in the crook of his neck and shook her head. "No, I'm sorry, I just..." Her voice trailed off like she was afraid to say whatever she was thinking, so Bass picked her up off of the counter and carried her straight to the living room. Sitting down on the couch, he grabbed a throw and threw it over them.

He waited while Charlie settled in his lap, pulling the blanket tight around her and snuggling into his chest. "Tell me what's wrong," he asked while he rubbed her back.

Charlie took a deep breath. "I'm don't want you to hate me." She sounded so small and scared that it broke his heart.

He kissed the top of her head. "I could never hate you, Charlotte. Why would you even think that?"

She pulled back to look him directly in the eyes. "Because I lied to you."

_**July 30, 2030**_

_**Charlie Matheson's apartment **_

_**The day before**_

_After getting the negative result on the first pregnancy test, Charlie's senses were on high alert. The test may have said negative, but now that she was actually paying attention, she couldn't help but notice some of the differences with her body._

_Curious, Charlie looked up some of the early pregnancy symptoms on the Internet. Morning sickness was the first one, and while she hadn't been throwing up she had been feeling a little nauseous lately. Swollen or tender breasts was another symptom. She had spent nearly half an hour examining her boobs, trying to decide if they looked any bigger and ultimately deciding that they were at least a little sensitive around her nipples._

_By that point she had been convinced, because she knew her body better than anyone. It also didn't help that she read that cheaper pregnancy tests didn't always give the best results and she mentally smacked herself for buying generic._

_At the pharmacy, she asked the woman at the counter which one she would recommend and bought two of them, just in case._

_Back home, she took the first test. Pacing back and forth and muttering about all of the things she should or shouldn't have done, she waited for the result. The tiny pink plus sign sent her slumping on the bed and dissolving in a fit a tears. It wasn't that she didn't want to be pregnant, she didn't necessarily not want a baby, but now she felt like she would never know the truth. As soon as she told Bass about the baby he would insist on being there for both of them, that's just how Bass was. But Charlie didn't want him to be there only because of the baby, she wanted to know how Bass really felt._

_And she knew that there was only one way she was ever going to find out._

**Present**

Bass stared at her in shock. "What? Wait, so you're, you really are..."

Charlie had yet to look at him, choosing to keep her face hidden in his shoulder. "Yes, I am. I'm sorry I lied to you, I was just afraid that you were still mad at me, and I didn't know what else to do. Please don't hate me for lying."

Bass let out a long breath, trying to comprehend everything that had happened since he got home from work. Finally, he took Charlie's chin in his hand and tilted her face up in order to meet her eyes. "I told you, I couldn't hate you even if I tried, I love you." Then his face broke out into a wide grin. "You're pregnant, we're gonna have a baby."

Relief flooding through her, Charlie couldn't help but smile along with him. "Yeah, we're gonna have a baby."

* * *

A/N And you guys thought she wasn't pregnant! I'm actually quite proud of myself for tricking you, lol. There is another chapter of this story, though it might be pretty long so it could be a little longer than my usual time between updates. Thank you for reading and please review!


	12. Chapter 12

**February 18, 2031**

**Chicago, Illinois**

**Bass and Charlie Monroe's house**

**Four years, nine months, two weeks, and six days since Miles death.**

"Mommy, nooooo. I wanna go play."

"I know honey, but just hold still for one second, and then you can go play, I promise"

Huffing like any angry four year old, little Will stood still so his mother could measure him against the wall. When she had drawn the line above his head, Charlie released his shoulders and said, "alright, I'm done. Go play."

Will ran off out the sliding glass door that led to the backyard, yelling happily the whole way. Charlie was standing in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room, staring down at the wall bearing her son's height marks. There were four of them, one for each of his birthdays, today being his fourth. They had brought him home from the hospital to this house, and it was the one Charlie planned to raise him in. She turned around to look at the opposite side of the doorway, the faded marks from her own past birthdays staring back at her. Her father had measured her every year from her first to her twenty-first birthday, and she planned to do the same for Will.

Caught up in her own memories, Charlie hadn't noticed her husband come through the back door, but snuggled into him as he embraced her from behind.

"What are you thinking, babe?" He asked as he kissed her on the cheek.

She turned around in Bass' arms and smiled up at him. "I was thinking that by the time Will's fifteen you'll have to measure him, either that or I'll have to stand on a chair. He's gonna be a giant, just like his grandpa."

Chuckling, Bass kissed his wife gently on the lips. "Don't worry about that yet. We've got plenty of time before then."

_**August 10, 2030**_

_**Charlie is 9 weeks pregnant.**_

_"Bass, you know surprises aren't really my thing."_

_"Will you relax? Have I ever steered you wrong."_

_Charlie stood, blindfolded, on the steps of some unknown establishment. "Well, there was that one time that you convinced me to try and set my dad up on a date with my history teacher."_

_Bass snorted while he fumbled with the keys for the front door. "That was your fault for believing me."_

_"I was nine, Bass."_

_"Ok, fine," he leaned forward and gave her a soft kiss on the lips, "I may have misread the signals Ms. What's-Her-Face was sending, but this is different, I promise."_

_Charlie rolled her eyes at him, but then remembered that he couldn't see her eyes because he had covered them up, so she sighed exaggeratedly and nodded for him to continue. She heard a door open and then let Bass lead her into what she assumed was a house. She contemplated asking where they were again, but decided against it because she knew how he got about surprises._

_"Alright," Bass stood in front of her and took her hands in his, "now I want you to promise that you won't get angry," He hurried on before she could interrupt, "and I know that sound really bad. It's just... I was in a bad place, and this was the only way I knew how to fix it at the time. Please try not to get mad."_

_Hearing the sadness, and possibly fear, in his voice made her nod. "Ok, I promise I'll try." Bass heaved a sigh of relief and lifted the blindfold from her eyes._

_Charlie's eyes took a moment to adjust to the room around her. Blank, beige walls and worn, but clean carpets. Something about the room and the smell were familiar. It took her brain a few second for everything to click into place. They were standing in her father's house, the house that she had sold a month and a half ago._

_"Bass! You can't just break in here, this is some body's house!" She looked at him with wide eyes, wondering what in the hell he was thinking._

_Bass smiled at her sheepishly. "I didn't break in, Charlie. I used my key." He held up a small silver key on a red key chain. The same one she had given to the real estate lady all those weeks ago when she signed the papers to sell the house._

_When everything finally clicked into place, she rounded on Bass. "You bought the house? What for? Why didn't you say anything?"_

_He put his hands on her shoulders, trying to calm her down because he knew if he didn't do it now that her anger would just spiral out off control. "Ok, please just listen and let me explain," he waited while she debated in her head on whether or not to listen, eventually, she nodded, giving him permission to speak._

_"Yes, I bought the house. We hadn't made up yet and I was miserable. You and Miles were all I ever had, then Miles died and I screwed things up with you, and I honestly thought that was it. So I bought the house. I just wanted something to remember you guys by. And I'm sorry I didn't tell you right after we made up, I was worried about how you would take it. I know that's not really an excuse, but..." Bass stopped talking when he realized that Charlie was staring up at him with tears in her eyes._

_"So this is your house?"_

_Shaking his head, he pulled her close. "No. This is our house."_

_Charlie nodded, wiping happy tears from her eyes. "But what about all the mon-"_

_"That money is yours. This was Miles' house, and when he died it passed to you. You sold it, so every cent of that money belongs to you." Charlie seemed to understand, but she looked a little confused, like she wasn't sure what to do with that information. Bass cupped her cheek, making her look into his eyes."Do you want to know what I think?" She nodded her head yes. "I think your dad would want you to put that money to good use, maybe use it to pay off your student loans and get yourself a car that isn't a total piece of shit."_

_She scoffed and smacked him playfully on the arm, but agreed with him. "Maybe we could use some of it to start saving for the baby's college fund. I think my dad would like that."_

_"Saving money for a kid that we can't even see yet? Yeah, that sound like something he would like. Miles, ever the practical one." Bass kissed her gently, whispering against her lips, "so you're not mad?"_

_"No, not really. I mean, I get why you did it. When we were fighting I took my necklace off and locked it in my jewelry box because I was afraid I would loose it, and I didn't want to loose the only thing I had left of you."_

_Nodding, Bass smiled as he fingered the 'M' pendant resting on her chest. "If you loose it, I'll just buy you another one. You're worth every penny."_

_Charlie slid her hands up his chest and kissed him deeply before pulling back. "I am, huh?" _

_Bass groaned in response, moving to kiss her neck. "Absolutely," he started pulling her towards the kitchen, "come on, I'll show you just how much."_

_**January 28, 2031**_

_**Charlie is thirty-four weeks pregnant.**_

_It was just after lunch and Charlie was sitting at her desk just outside of Aaron's office. Lately she hadn't even attempted to look professional when coming to work wearing maternity jeans (no underwear, of course), one of Bass' t-shirts (because none of her clothes fit around her stomach), and some slippers she had bought at Wal-Mart that at least passed for real shoes if you didn't look too hard. Basically, being pregnant sucked._

_She was tired all the time, had to pee every five minutes, and was likely to scream at anyone who passed to close to her desk with a smile on their face. _

_Bass had taken to calling her every hour, on the hour, to check in. How was she feeling? Did she need anything? When was the last time she had a snack? As adorable as her boyfriend was, she and her ever growing belly had been plotting his death from the moment she hadn't been able to tie her own shoes._

_When the elevator dinged open, Charlie had to resist the urge to shout at whoever had dared take the elevator instead of the stairs. Didn't people know that exercise was important? But she kept her comments to herself as a delivery guy came out of the elevator and said, "I have a delivery for Charlotte Matheson."_

_She motioned him over to her, indicating that she was who he was looking for. The man had her sign his tablet and then produced a small, dark blue box with a white bow on top, before leaving. Charlie stared down at the box, feeling a sense of deja vu. _

_Alex joined her at the desk, looking down at the box as well. "From Bass?"_

_"Has to be," Charlie shrugged, "we all know that he's the only one that calls me that." She removed the lid from the box and peeked inside. There was a small cupcake sitting at the bottom of the box with red frosting on top, as well as what appeared to be a white plastic ring._

_Charlie lifted the cupcake out of the box, with a frown on her face. "What the hell?" She looked up at Alex, seeking conformation that it was in fact strange, but Alex wasn't looking at her. She was staring open mouthed at the door that led to the stairwell. Charlie followed her gaze to find none other than Bass coming towards them. He was wearing dark jeans and a white button up, with a few of the top buttons undone. The man couldn't not be sexy even if he tried._

_Shaking those thought from her head, Charlie stared up at him questioningly. "What are you do-" But she stopped talking when he came around to her side of the desk and got down on one knee._

_"I know that you don't want to get married right now, because you think that if we do that it will be just because of the baby. But I am here, right now, telling you that with or without this child, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. And I'm not saying we have to go out and do it right this second, because I can already hear you saying that there's no way your getting into a wedding dress looking like a, and I'm quoting here, 'whale'. But I don't care if you wear a dress or come in your freakin' sweatpants, I just want to be with you. So please, Charlotte Jean Matheson, will you be my wife?"_

_He pulled a little black box of of his pocket and opened it, revealing a silver band with a small diamond on top. It was simple and modest, and perfect. Charlie didn't even bother trying to hide the tears in her eyes as she nodded her head up and down, not trusting her voice. Bass shakily slid the ring onto her finger and she pulled him into hug, speaking through her tears against his neck. "Yes, I love you, Bass. Yes."_

_Bass hugged her tightly to him, well, as much as he could with the basketball protruding from her stomach, and kissed the side of her head. "I love you, too."_

_Aaron and Priscilla had come out of their offices to join Alex, and the three of them watched the newly engaged couple with smiles on their faces. Aaron pulled out his cell phone and started taking pictures. Priscilla raised an eyebrow at her husband who merely shrugged and said, "what? I promised Ben and Jeremy that I would take pictures so they could see."_

_Priscilla's eyes widened. "You knew? Why didn't you say anything?"_

_Aaron gave his wife a very serious look. "I didn't say anything because Bass said that if I didn't keep my mouth shut that he would liberate me from some delicate parts of my anatomy, and I don't know about you, but I rather like those bits right where they are."_

_Both Priscilla and Alex threw their heads back and laughed. The happy couple were so immersed in each other that neither of them noticed the cell phones snapping picture after picture of their engagement. Years later, Charlie would complain to Bass about him not warning her so she could have at least done something with her hair first._

_**February 18, 2031**_

_**Charlie is thirty-seven and a half weeks pregnant.**_

_Ben stood in the waiting room of the maternity wing at the hospital. Aaron and Priscilla, Alex, Jeremy, Danny, and Rachel were all there as well, each one of them handling the panic in their own way._

_Aaron had just returned from his fourth visit to the vending machine while Priscilla was frantically checking her many checklists to make sure they had brought everything. Alex was sitting, curled up in a chair chewing her nails like the entire planet had suddenly run out of food. Jeremy was pacing around the room, stopping occasionally to send out a mass text message to update the many people waiting impatiently at his and Bass' work for news. Danny was sitting down, attempting to distract himself by reading a book, but looking up at the doors leading into the patient rooms every couple of seconds. Rachel sat next to her son, her face completely calm, appearing utterly uncaring about the entire situation, but Ben knew better. His wife always feigned indifference when she was worried._

_Ben himself had taken up position just outside the doors leading to the patient rooms. He had angled himself just right, so that when Bass finally came out he would be able to see him coming. It was a waiting game, and it sucked._

_Jeremy was on the phone with his girlfriend, trying to assure her that he would be home in time for dinner, which succeeded in distracting Ben long enough for Bass to come bursting through the double doors. His hair was sticking up at odd angles, no doubt from running his hands through it so many times, and his face was tired, but that was nothing compared to the huge grin plastered on his face._

_"She's ok! They're ok!"_

_They all bombarded Bass with questions, everything from 'what's his name, to who does he look like, and how much does he weigh?' Ben finally put an end to all of the questions by putting his hands in the air and yelling, "alright, enough! Let the man speak."_

_Bass smiled at him gratefully before taking his phone out of his pocket and passing it around. The newborn in the picture was red faced and crying, his face was squishy looking and completely indistinguishable from any other newborn baby. Bass stood tall, with a glimmer in his eyes, telling them proudly, "his name is William Miles Monroe, he's seven pounds, four ounces and seventeen inches long. Doc says he and Charlie are both perfectly healthy."_

_If the cheers erupting from the waiting room bothered anyone else, no one said anything, they left the family to celebrate the arrival of little Will as loudly as they liked. After a round of hugs from everyone, Bass tugged Rachel with him back towards the doors. He waited until they were away from the others before stopping to say, "look, I know you don't like me. Frankly, I've never like you either, but you are my son's only living grandparent, and I don't want him to miss out just because we can't get over some stupid shit that happened twenty years ago. So I'll tell you what, I won't bring any of it up, if you won't. Plus, your Charlie's mom, and whether she knows it or not, I think she could really use her mother right now."_

_Rachel stared at the man before her. Bass still looked like Bass, but if the last few months had been any indication, he wasn't the same womanizing drunk she had met all those years ago. But she wasn't quite ready to admit that yet, so instead she gave him a tight smile and said, "congratulations, Bass. I'm happy for you, and for Charlie. Now take me to see my grandson."_

_He wasn't sure what to make of Rachel's non-answer, but rather than argue on the happiest day of his life, he led her to the room where Charlie was. With his son, their son._

_Opening the door revealed an exhausted Charlie, cradling a sleeping Will in her arms. She smiled at him as he entered the room, but it faltered slightly when she saw her mother behind him. "Hey, Mom."_

_Rachel wasted no time in hurrying over to her daughter, ignoring the slightly shocked look on Charlie's face as she leaned over to coo at her grandson. "Oh my goodness, you are perfect," she poked at his chubby cheek and smiled, the biggest smile Bass had ever seen on the woman._

_Charlie stared up at the happy smile on her mother's face and couldn't help but smile right along with her, she was right, Will was perfect. "You wanna hold him?"_

_"Of course I do, he's my grandson, give him here." And just like that, bossy, know-it-all Rachel was back, but the smile still plastered on her face sort of took away from her attitude. Charlie happily handed over their son, and Bass watched the three of them from the doorway, thinking that maybe they could all get along, for Will's sake._

_**May 12, 2032**_

_**Will is fifteen months old.**_

_Bass wrapped his arms around Charlie's waist from behind, kissing her neck while she looked around the yard at their guests. Aaron and Priscilla's backyard was decorated with twinkling white lights and tables laden with white tablecloths and lots of food, and alcohol of course. Charlie played with the ring on his finger absently, watching little Will tug at his Uncle Aaron's beard. Bass followed her gaze and chuckled when Aaron tried to pull away from Will's searching fingers, succeeding in making the little boy cry._

_"He definitely knows how to get what he wants," Charlie said with a smile._

_Bass continued to nuzzle his bride's neck, replying, "yeah, he's just like his mother."_

_Charlie snorted and turned around in his arms, trying not to stumble on the train of her gown. "That's funny, I was going to say that he's just like his father." She snaked her hands around Bass' neck and raised up on her tip toes to kiss him._

_"Well at least he's not like Grandma Rachel, then we might have a problem."_

_She smacked his arm playfully, "be nice. Mom's trying." They both turned to find Rachel chatting away with Jeremy and his girlfriend Duncan._

_Bass looked at her seriously. "I know. I'm trying to, it's just hard to suddenly stop hating someone that I've hated for twenty years." _

_"It's alright, I know your trying. And I know it's hard, but it really means a lot to me." Charlie rested her head in the crook of his neck and Bass kissed her temple gently._

_"I love you so much, Mrs. Monroe. I'll do anything for you."_

_"I know, I love you too, Mr. Monroe."_

**Present**

Charlie kissed Bass one more time before pulling away from him. "So I've been thinking..."

"Uh-oh, what is it every time you say those words that I end up doing some kind of manual labor?"

Charlie rolled her eyes and slid her arms around his waist, "oh, but I think you'll like this job though." She tucked her hands into the back pockets of his jeans, squeezing his ass and grinning up at him.

Bass pulled her close and whispered in her ear, "well, you certainly have my attention."

Giggling, she pulled back to look into her husband's eyes. "I've actually been thinking that maybe... we could, you know... have another baby."

Bass stared down at her with wide eyes. "But I thought you said that one was plenty?"

"I did, but that was a while ago, and now... Will is gonna start school in the fall and I was just thinking that it might be nice for him to have a little brother or sister." She was biting her lip nervously, and Bass had to resist the urge to kiss her. "But if you don't want-"

"Stop talking, Charlie." He kissed her tenderly. "I don't care if you want two kids or ten, as long as we're together, that's all that matters."

Charlie sighed with relief and he leaned down to kiss her deeply, slipping his tongue into her mouth and pulling her flush against him, loving the little sounds she made when he reached down to cup her ass. He started trailing kisses down her neck and she ran her fingers through his hair.

Panting, Charlie tried to push him away. "Bass."

"Mhmmm," he mumbled against her neck.

"Maybe we should wait until after Will's birthday party." Bass pulled away from her neck reluctantly, mumbling to himself about having a tease for a wife, and they both joined the party on the back patio, celebrating their son's birthday and enjoying time with their family.

* * *

A/N I honestly can't thank everyone enough for reading, favoriting, following, and reviewing. You guys have all been amazingly supportive of this story and I am so grateful. That being said, while this is the end of the story, there is more story that goes with this. As I was writing, I wrote a bunch of alternate flashback scenes that I am planning on posting as a series of one-shots. They all center around Charlie's relationship with Miles or her relationship with Bass, some are Miles and Bass, but it's mostly Charlie. I'll start posting those when I find the time to edit them. :-) Thanks again for reading, you guys are awsome!


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